The TI-108 is a basic handheld
calculator
An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-si ...
manufactured by
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...
aimed at introducing younger students to basic arithmetic and calculator functionality.
The TI-108 is widely used among younger students due to its low cost, durability, and simplicity. Along with the more expensive and newer
TI-10, this calculator targets the K-3 student group for whom it will likely be a first calculator. The
TI-15 is targeted to older students.
History
The TI-108 is the last member of the TI calculator family to continue a design language first introduced in the mid-1980s, with textured keys and straight edges with curved bottom corners, as well as a recessed frame around the display. This design was also shared with the landscape-aspect Galaxy line of scientific calculators, though the textured keys were not used on contemporary portrait-aspect designs due to a lack of space. The current model 108 is, at least externally, virtually identical to the original TI-108 introduced in 1990, and is the cheapest design in the TI calculator line.
Though the internal electronics are different, the TI-108 is fundamentally the same as the TI-1100II introduced in 1985, a four-function calculator with additional square root and percentage keys. TI-108s are mostly found and used in school classrooms.
Memory keys
Basic calculators do not follow the
order of operations
In mathematics and computer programming, the order of operations is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which operations to perform first in order to evaluate a given mathematical expression.
These rules are formalized with a ...
and most of them do not have a command line in which
parentheses
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...
can be entered; they merely evaluate each expression in the order in which they are given. The TI-108 has a very simple feature that stores one number in
memory
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...
; it is by default
zero
0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...
. The M- and M+ keys will respectively
subtract
Subtraction (which is signified by the minus sign, –) is one of the four arithmetic operations along with addition, multiplication and division. Subtraction is an operation that represents removal of objects from a collection. For example, ...
or
add the number on the screen to the number in memory, and the MRC key recalls this memory number. By keeping the current number in memory, subtracting and adding to it with the memory keys, and then multiplying and dividing it in the normal fashion, a problem of
arithmetic
Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms.
...
can be done in the proper order with the TI-108 without physically writing down results intermittently.
References
External links
TI-108 exhibit at Datamath.orgTI-108 Manual
Ti-108 Product PageSome more pictures (1 internal view)
{{TI-calc
Texas Instruments calculators