The TI-57 was a programmable scientific calculator made by Texas Instruments between 1977 and 1982. There were three machines by this name made by TI, the first was the TI-57 with LED display released in September 1977 along the more powerful TI-58 and TI-59. It had 50 program steps and 8 memory registers. Two later versions named TI-57 LCD and TI-57 LCD-II have a LCD display, but were less powerful (ran much slower) and had much less memory: 48 bytes to be allocated between program 'steps' and storage registers.

The TI-57 lacked non-volatile memory, so any programs entered were lost when the calculator was switched off or the battery ran out.

The LED display version of the TI-57 had a rechargeable Nickel-Cadmium battery pack BP7 which contains two AA size batteries and some electronic to raise the voltage to the 9V required by the calculator. A popular modification is to power it from a 9V battery and use the battery cover of a LED TI-30 or a part of the dismantled battery pack. This modification provides a better battery life than the original battery pack.

"I worked at The GEC Research Laboratories (later Hirst Research Centre) from 1953 until 1992; the labs were demolished in 1994. During the late seventies I believe I was working on the integration of high frequency microwave (radar) circuitry. The TI 57 was a handy tool for general calculations because it was programmable - we had a couple of real mathematicians in our lab! The calculator of course had a relative short working life because of facility and speed improvements in later models. However this TI 57 survived even the 1994 demolition."

Manufacturer: Texas Instruments
Date: May 1977

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH17322. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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