TI-30
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The TI-30 is a scientific calculator introduced in 1977 and manufactured by Texas Instruments. The TI-30 series calculators on sale today are direct descendants of the original TI-30.
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[edit] Price
The original TI-30 was notable for its extremely low cost, around $25. This was far less than the retail prices of other scientific calculators of the era. For example HP's cheapest scientific was still well over US$100. The low-priced TI-30 made scientific calculators far more available than before, for example to the common high-school student. The TI-30 may be the best-selling calculator ever, with an expected 15,000,000 manufactured during its lifespan from 1976-1983.
It is rumored that the original TI-30 got its name from the retail price of US$29.95 or US$30. This seems unlikely, however, as the original MSRP was $24.95.
[edit] Description
The original TI-30 had an LED display, was powered by a 9V battery, and contained nearly all of its functionality in only one chip, where previous calculators had many discrete parts. It could do just about all the log and trig functions of an HP-35. It pioneered algebraic notation with precedence and parentheses which is now favored by all but the most die-hard RPN fanatics, and takes significantly more logic to implement. A user could type in (2 + 2) + 3 * 3 = and get the correct result, where an HP user would need to strategize and do 2 enter 2 + 3 enter 3 * +.
The modern TI-30 series consists of capable, low-priced scientific calculators, which are evolutionarily related to the original TI-30. Newer models have low power LCD displays and use solar power or watch-style batteries. However math curriculum has moved up to nearly requiring the use of graphic calculators as early as late elementary or junior high school which still cost over $100 retail new.
[edit] TI-30 models
note: this listing is incomplete, for more details, please see [1]
- TI-30II (1982) — Slimline format with the TI-30 key layout
- TI-30III (1984)
- TI-30X (1993) — Contained an expanded 10 digit display (from the original 8)
- TI-30Xa (1994) — Added the constant key to the TI-30X
- TI-30Xa (rev 1996) — Introduced a more modern, smoothed design
- TI-30XII (1999) — Added a two-line, scrollable display
- TI-30XIIS (2003) — Solar and battery powered, updated version of the TI-30XII
- TI-30Xa (2004) — Special Version custom made for use on Virginia middle-school tests. The fraction features are disabled leaving the two fraction keys blank. However a student found a way around this causing Texas Instruments to release a patched version in 2005.
