Retro Review: TI-30 Stat

Retro Review: TI-30 Stat

Special thanks to Jon Neal, he has made my reunion with the TI-30 Stat possible.  This calculator was one of the first scientific calculators I ever used.  I owned a TI-30 Stat in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The manual survives all this time. 

Quick Facts

Company: Texas Instruments

Type: Scientific

Battery:  2 x LR-44

Operating System: AOS

Number of Functions: 54

Years: 1985 - 1993, went through a number of revisions (Datamath)

Memory Registers: 1

Features

The TI-30 Stat is a basic, entry level scientific calculator.  You have the trigonometric functions and their inverses, logarithmic functions and their inverses, the reciprocal, powers and roots, percent arithmetic, and basic one variable statistics.  Missing from other TI-30 models are polar/rectangular conversions, degree/degree-minute-second conversions, and angular conversions.  So we are talking bare basic here, but the fundamental functions are here so a wide range of scientific calculations can be tackled. 

The display is a one line display holding up to 8 digits, or a 5 digit mantissa/2 digit exponent of power of 10.  Numbers go range between -9.9999 × 10^99 to 9.9999 x 10^99.  If you are in sceintific notation and the exponent is between -07 to 07, you can cancel scientific notation display by pressing [2nd] [EE] (EE).

 Memory

The TI-30 Stat has only one memory, but has two dedicated storage operations:

[SUM]:  adds the number in the display to the memory register, basically M+

[EXC]:  recalls the memory register while replavcong the contents of memory of what you had in the display.  Example:  5 [EXC] stores 5 in the memory while recalling what the memory register previously had

Clearing the memory register is as simple as: 0 [STO]

Let's Talk about K

There is a long standing feature on Texas Instruments non-graphing scientific calculators:  the constant key, [ K ]. 

For the TI-30 Stat, the constant key allows you to store a constant with an operation.  This allows for rapid calculations with repetitive calculations with just an entry and the equals key.  The order of the keystrokes can be not so intuitive at first. 

N [ + ] [ K ]:  adds N to each subsequent entry (A + N, B + N, etc)

N [ - ] [ K ]:  subtracts N from each subsequent entry (A - N, B - N, etc)

N [ x ] [ K ]:  multiplies N to each subsequent entry (A * N, B * N, etc)

N [ ÷ ] [ K ]:  divides each subsequent entry by N (A/N, B/N, etc)

N [ y^x ] [ K ]:  power (A^N, B^N, etc)

N [ x√y ] [ K ]:  roots (A^(1/N), B^(1/N), etc)

Statistics

The statistics mode is very basic:  mean, standard deviation (σn-1), and population deviation (σn).  

Verdict

This is a basic calculator, similar to the TI-30 SLR+. The manual is well written and the TI-30 Stat is good for quick calculations.  The keyboard is good and responsive.  If you are looking for entry level, this may be an option.

Eddie

This blog is property of Edward Shore, 2018. 

This is my first entry using a Kindle Fire.  

TI-30 SLR+ and Memories of School

I sometimes like to visit pawn shops, because on an occasional basis, I find vintage calculators. Last weekend was a case when I found a Texas Instruments TI-30 SLR+ calculator at Arts Jewelry & Loan pawn shop in Whittier, CA. The keys, slide case, and the reference card are all kept in excellent condition!

The TI-30 SLR+ is probably the closest thing I have to the first Texas Instruments calculator, and second ever scientific calculator, I owned, the TI-30 Stat. This goes back to 1990, I think either in 7th or 8th grade. That is when I learned that "sin" stood for the sine function, not a religious transgression, and "log" had nothing to do with cutting trees.

The original TI-30 Stat was battery powered and practically never left me side. I must have read the manual hundreds of times. Unfortunately, I no longer have the TI-30 Stat, can't remember if I gave it away or it malfunctioned. For a picture of what my TI-30 looked like the datamath.net provides the picture: http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Modern/ZOOM_TI-30Stat_1992.htm

The TI-30 Stat I had turned out to be a later version, as the original version had the 2nd key marked as INV (inverse). I doubt any scientific calculator manufactured today has its modifier key marked INV.

The TI-30 SLR+ is a more advanced cousin of the TI-30 Stat. One of my high school math teacher had several of these.

TI-30 Stat vs TI-30 SLR+

According to their respective operating manuals, the TI-30 Stat stated that it had 54 functions, while the TI-30 SLR+ states that it has 63.

So far the difference between the two that I note, is that the TI-30 SLR+ has the nine following functions the TI 30 Stat didn't:

* degrees to and from degrees/minutes/seconds conversion (2 functions)
* polar coordinates to and from rectangular coordinates (2 functions)
* angle conversions: degrees to radians to gradients back to degrees (3 functions)
* statistical sums Σx and Σx^2 (2 functions)

The TI-30 SLR+ and the miniature TI-25 Stat share the same function set.

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Side note: To contrast, today, very few calculators are listed with a count of functions. I think Texas Instruments stopped counting the number of functions when the TI-85 was released in 1992.

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This calculator is going to be awesome addition to the collection. Who knew 20-plus years later I would have a collection and have a blog about math and calculators? I didn't anticipate it in 1990.



Eddie

This blog is property of Edward Shore. 2014