DALLAS — The newest calculator from Texas Instruments can do more than graph an equation.
The Dallas company unveiled a new line of calculators that's not just for math classes, but science and computer programming courses as well.
The “TI-Nspire CX II” comes with a fresher look, faster processing and interactive math and coding features that will help with areas around STEM, the company said in a statement.
"Students and teachers asked us to make their graphing calculator more responsive as they are using it increasingly to explore an array of complex STEM concepts," said Peter Balyta, president of TI Education Technology.
TI continues to update the calculator, which remains one of the most iconic devices to ever come out of North Texas. It’s hardly a big driver of revenue for the company, making up a piece of the “other” line of products that contributed about 3 percent of sales last year. Still, for a company whose gear mostly sits hidden inside other machines, the calculator remains a steady consumer-facing product that can be picked up at Wal-Mart or ordered from Amazon.com.
The devices are hardly the beefy handhelds with gray screens from years ago. The new gadgets include a color, backlit display, a rechargeable battery, a USB port and 90-plus megabytes of storage memory, Texas Instruments Incorporated (Nasdaq: TXN) said.
The TI-Nspire CX II and CX II CAS will be available for purchase at stores in time for back to school late this year, it said.
Of course, TI has a special claim to the number-crunching gadget. It developed the first electronic hand-held calculator (Cal Tech) in 1967.
