Object Details
maker
Texas Instruments
Description
Introduced in mid-1976, the Little Professor is a non-printing electronic calculator modified to present simple arithmetic problems. A correct answer prompts another problem on the eight-digit display. An error delivers the message, "EEE." The colorful keyboard shows a professor with whiskers and glasses. The red light-emitting diode screen, in combination with the top of the instrument, looks like a mortar board.
This example has buttons that allow one to set the level of problems, as well as an on/off button on the front rather than the side of the machine. These features were introduced in a version of the machine made from 1978 onward.
Reference:
P. A. Kidwell, A. Ackerberg-Hastings, and D. L. Roberts, Tools of American Mathematics Teaching, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 261–262.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of John B. Priser
date made
ca 1978
ID Number
1986.0988.197
accession number
1986.0988
catalog number
1986.0988.197
Object Name
electronic calculator
Other Terms
electronic calculator; Handheld
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 1 in x 3 1/2 in x 5 in; 2.54 cm x 8.89 cm x 12.7 cm
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Computers
Computers & Business Machines
Learning Arithmetic
Science & Mathematics
Arithmetic Teaching
Handheld Electronic Calculators
Data Source
National Museum of American History
web subject
Mathematics
Games
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_334611