Spotlight: Texas Instruments TI-30 ECO RS: The Solar TI-30Xa
Quick Facts
Model: TI-30 ECO RS
Company: Texas
Instruments
Timeline: 2015 –
present (Europe
Type: Scientific
calculator
Power: Solar
Display: One line, 10
digits, 2 digit exponents
Introduction
The TI-30 ECO RS is a
European all-solar powered version of the battery-powered,
specifically the LR44 battery, powered TI-30Xa.
Why did I get the TI-30
ECO RS? Truth be told, I am partial to solar-powered scientific
calculators. I still dream of the day a solar powered (even if it is
hybrid with battery) graphing calculator, that’s yet to happen.
Blue is my favorite color.
Per Texas Instruments,
the TI-30 ECO RS was awarded the Blue Angel award, which is a
certification for the product being environmental friendly. Along
with the calculator being completely solar powered, the TI-30 ECO RS
is made from recycled plastic.
Features
The TI-30 ECO RS is a
standard and simple scientific calculator that follows the classic
TI-30 line:
* One line display, up
to 10 digits. Display modes include floating pint, fixed decimal,
scientific notation, and engineering notation.
* Arithmetic, powers,
roots, exponential and logarithm functions
* Trigonometric
functions and inverses
* Hyperbolic functions
and inverses
* Fraction
calculations, including fraction/decimal conversions. The maximum
denominator is 999.
* One-variable
statistics including mean, standard deviation, sums
* Combinations,
permutations, and factorial of positive integers (up to 69)
* Polar/Rectangular and
Decimal/Decimal-Minute-Second conversions
* Three memory
registers (M1, M2, M3)
The TI-30 ECO RS follows
the algebraic operating system and the standard order of operations
is followed with a maximum of four pending operations. There is no
implied multiplication.
The calculator uses
postfix notation, where some one-number operations are entered after
the number. For example, to calculate the sine of 30 degrees, press
30 [ SIN ] (in degrees mode). For the anti-log of 2.6, press 2.6 [
2nd ] [ LOG ] <10^x>.
TI-30 ECO RS vs.
TI-30Xa
Even though the feature
set of the TI-30 ECO RS and the TI-30Xa are the same, there are some
minor differences.
* The TI-30 ECO RS is
solar powered and will never require a separate battery. This is not
the first time Texas Instruments implemented the solar only design,
as previous models include the TI-108, TI-31, TI-30 SLR+, the classic
one-line TI-36X Solar, the classic TI-36 Solar, and the BA-Solar from
1987 are some examples. In the 1980s and 1990s, Texas Instruments
used technology named Anylite Technology (TM).
* Pressing the [ON/AC]
button clears everything including the memory and statistics
registers and resets the calculator to Degrees mode. This is
consistent with classic one-line TI solar powered calculators. If
you intend to store constants long-term, you may want to consider the
battery-powered TI-30Xa instead.
* Calculations on the
solar powered TI-30 ECO RS are slightly slower than the TI-30Xa. I
am guessing that it is due to the power source.
* Since 2015, both the
TI-30 ECO RS and the TI-30Xa are free the logarithm bug (Datamath).
* The TI-30 ECO RS is
sold in Europe. Outside of Europe, we have to buy a TI-30 ECO RS
online. I was fortunately enough to buy one from an e-bay seller in
Virginia.
Source
Woerner, Joerg. “Texas
Instruments TI-30 ECO RS (2015)” Datamath Calculator Museum.
Updated May 17, 2016.
Accessed June 6, 2024.
http://www.datamath.org/Sci/Modern/TI-30ecRS_2015.htm
“Scientific
calculator TI-30 ECO RS” Texas Instruments Calculators.
1995-2024. Accessed June 7, 2024. The page is in German.
https://education.ti.com/de/produkte/taschenrechner/wissenschaftliche-rechner/ti-30-eco-rs
Eddie
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