What Does EE Stand For?

Date: 01/14/2003 at 17:37:04
From: Jarrod
Subject: What EE stands for

What does the EE stand for on a scientific calculator?

I need to know what each E in EE stands for.

Date: 01/14/2003 at 22:55:00
From: Doctor Peterson
Subject: Re: what EE stands for

Hi, Jarrod.

You can read more about it in your manual, but generally the EE key 
is used to enter scientific notation. See this answer in our archives:

   EE Key on a Calculator
   http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54346.html 

If you go there and read it, you will see what one of our Math 
Doctors understands to be the meaning of the E's, namely "Engineering 
Exponent." I don't know for sure that he is right, and in fact I don't 
find his phrase used anywhere else on the Web, but it makes some 
sense.

I searched a little more using Google (just looking for the phrase "EE 
key") and found this alternative explanation:

   USING YOUR CALCULATOR
   http://lyra.colorado.edu/sbo/manuals/astr1010/08-calculator.pdf 

   Your calculator should have a key for entering scientific
   notation. It probably is labeled either EXP or EE (for 
   "exponent" or "enter exponent") .

So now we have two possible answers. I'm leaning toward the latter, 
because it sounds familiar; but if you want to be sure, why not 
e-mail someone at Texas Instruments or Hewlett-Packard, which made the 
first scientific calculators, and ask what it means to them? (Then 
let me know what you find!)

Or you can trust what people say TI says. Here is a page that answers 
our question, which I found by adding to my search the phrase "enter 
exponent":

  Re: EE key on calculator, Don Girod (sci.math)
  http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=53526 

  Volfy (twd5@shell.one.net) wrote:
  : Hi,
  :    I was wondering why the scientific notation key was labeled
  : EE on my calculator.
  :      Thanks for any info.
  :         -LH
  Well, back in 1973, when I read my manual for my Texas
  Instruments SR-50, they told me it stood for "Enter Exponent".
  Since they probably invented the key about then, this has to be
  correct, right?

- Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum
  http://mathforum.org/dr.math/