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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

The Educator® TI-73 Explorer

Date of introduction:	September, 2006	Display technology:	LCD dot matrix
New price:	$295	Display size:	8 * 16 characters
Size:	13" x 9" x 1.4"
Weight:	32 ounces	Serial No:
Batteries:	4*AA	Date of manufacture:
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	China
Precision:	14	Integrated circuits:	ASIC: TI-REF TI-738X Flash: S29AL004D70 Display: Toshiba T6K04
Memories:
Program steps:	25k Bytes, 128k Bytes FLASH-ROM	Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

The California based company Stokes Publishing Company, Inc. distributes under the label "The Educator®" calculators optimized for teaching purposes. William T. Stokes filed already July 30, 1991 the US Patent Application U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,502 with the title "Transparent calculator for overhead projection".

Both the keyboard and the display are made from translucent glass and plastics. Using a simple overhead projector the teacher could demonstrate easily the function of a calculator.

The TI-73 Explorer introduced by Texas Instruments in 2003 developed itself to a very successful graphing calculator. The one to one replacement from Stokes Publishing Company is this Educator TI-73 Explorer overhead calculator.

Dismantling the Educator TI-73 Explorer reveals a great surprise: The printed circuit boards (PCBs) were dramatically changed compared to the TI-73 Explorer and even the 32k Bytes S-RAM dropped.

We know a similiar evolution from the TI-83 Plus to the TI-84 Plus with only 3 main Integrated Circuits left:

Component	Educator TI-73 Explorer
ASIC	TI-738X Z-80 CPU, RAM, USB
Flash-ROM	Spansion 29AL004 512k Byte Flash-ROM
Display driver	Toshiba T6K04 Single-chip 64*128 pixel

A close-up image of the Toshiba T6K04 single-chip driver for dot matrix displays with up to 128 columns and 64 rows mounted on a tape carrier package.

A close-up image of the TI-738X ASIC and the Spansion S29AL004 Flash-ROM.

We know this technology from TI-82 Stats.fr introduced in July 2006 in France.

Overhead™ Calculator is a trademark of Stokes Publishing Company, Inc.

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.