The TI 73 series is a series of

graphing calculator A graphing calculator (also graphics calculator or graphic display calculator) is a handheld computer that is capable of plotting graphs, solving simultaneous equations, and performing other tasks with variables. Most popular graphing calculat ...

s made by

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

, all of which have identical hardware. The original TI-73 graphing calculator was originally designed in 1998 as a replacement for the

TI-80 The TI-80 is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments. It was originally designed in 1995 to be used at a middle school level (grades 6-8). The TI-80 featured a 48 x 64 dot-matrix display with a 5 x 3 pixel font, which is the smallest scre ...

for use at a middle school level (grades 6-9). Its primary advantage over the

is its 512 KB of

flash memory Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both us ...

, which holds the calculator's operating system and thereby allows the calculator to be upgraded. Other advantages over the TI-80 are the TI-73's standard sized screen (as opposed to the TI-80's smaller screen), the addition of a link port, 25 KB of RAM (as compared to the TI-80's 7 KB of RAM), and a faster 6

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

Zilog Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples wer ...

processor (as compared with the TI-80's 980

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

proprietary processor). The TI-73 also uses the standard 4 AAA batteries with a lithium backup battery (instead of the TI-80's 2 CR2032 lithium batteries). In 2003, the TI-73 was redesigned with a new body shape and redesignated the TI-73 Explorer to indicate its currently intended use as a bridge between the

TI-15 Explorer TI-15 Explorer is a calculator designed by Texas Instruments, intended for use in classes from grades 3-5. It is the successor to the TI-12 Math Explorer. For younger students, TI recommends the use of the TI-108. For older students, TI recomme ...

and similar calculators and the

TI-83 Plus The TI-83 series is a series of graphing calculators manufactured by Texas Instruments. The original TI-83 is itself an upgraded version of the TI-82. Released in 1996, it was one of the most popular graphing calculators for students. In additio ...

TI-84 Plus The TI-84 Plus is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments which was released in early 2004. There is no original TI-84, only the TI-84 Plus, the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition models, and the TI-84 Plus CE. The TI-84 Plus is an enhanced ve ...

, and similar calculators. Later, the TI-73 Explorer was remodeled to resemble the TI-84 Plus graphing calculator more closely. Due to lack of demand in middle schools, the TI-73 and TI-73 Explorer have not been huge sellers for TI and are not carried by most retail stores. Most American upper-level middle school algebra courses generally tend to use the TI-83 or

TI-84 The TI-84 Plus is a graphing calculator made by Texas Instruments which was released in early 2004. There is no original TI-84, only the TI-84 Plus, the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition models, and the TI-84 Plus CE. The TI-84 Plus is an enhanced ve ...

families instead of the TI-73 or TI-73 Explorer, while most basic middle school math courses generally do not use graphing calculators, instead opting for scientific calculators such as the

TI-30 The TI-30 is a scientific calculator manufactured by Texas Instruments, the first model of which was introduced in 1976. While the original TI-30 was discontinued in 1983 after several design revisions, TI maintains the TI-30 designation as a bran ...

TI-34 The TI-34 name is a branding used by Texas Instruments for its mid-range scientific calculators aimed at the educational market. The first TI-34 model was introduced in 1987 as a midpoint between the TI-30 series and the TI-35/ TI-36 series. Earlie ...

families. Originally the TI-73 could only run programs written in

TI-BASIC TI-BASIC is the official name of a BASIC-like language built into Texas Instruments (TI)'s graphing calculators. TI-BASIC is a language family of three different and incompatible versions, released on different products: * TI-BASIC 83 (on Z80 ...

, although that has changed in recent years. In 2005, an

assembly shell On graphing calculators, an assembly shell is a program that is used to run other programs written in the calculator's native machine code rather than the calculator's standard high-level programming language. While all assembly shells can run assem ...

called Mallard was released for the TI-73. Mallard allows the user to run programs written in assembly language. As with the TI-82 and the TI-85 before, a hacked backup file is downloaded containing the assembly shell. Released in late 2008, the

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

utility Chameleon allows a user to load the TI-73 Explorer with a slightly modified TI-83+ firmware, giving it nearly equivalent functionality. In 2009, Texas Instruments updated the skin of the TI-73 Explorer to match the shape of the larger

's case. This resulted in a slight increase in mass from 182 grams to 208 grams. The hardware and software remained unchanged and is identical to an older unit wearing the

TI-83 plus The TI-83 series is a series of graphing calculators manufactured by Texas Instruments. The original TI-83 is itself an upgraded version of the TI-82. Released in 1996, it was one of the most popular graphing calculators for students. In additio ...

style casing.

Technical specifications

* CPU:

CPU, 6

Flash ROM Flash memory is an electronic non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for the NOR and NAND logic gates. Both use ...

: 512 KB with 128 KB available for Flash Applications *

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

: 32 KB with 25 KB available to the user *

Display Display may refer to: Technology * Display device, output device for presenting information, including: ** Cathode ray tube, video display that provides a quality picture, but can be very heavy and deep ** Electronic visual display, output devi ...

: Text: 16×8 characters * I/O ** Link port ** 50 button built-in interface *

Power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...

: 4

AAA batteries The AAA battery (or triple-A battery) is a standard size of dry cell battery. One or more AAA batteries are commonly used in low-drain portable electronic devices. A zinc–carbon battery in this size is designated by IEC as R03, by ANSI C18.1 ...

plus 1 lithium battery for

backup In information technology, a backup, or data backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form, referring to the process of doing so, is "back up", w ...

*Integrated

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

Sources

External links

Features of the TI-73 Explorer
*Some TI-73 programs and the Chameleon utility can be found a
ticalc.org
and several others a
CalcG.org
{{TI-calc Graphing calculators Texas Instruments programmable calculators Products introduced in 1998 Z80

Technical specifications

Sources

See also

External links