There was no cost benefit to new students, technicians and engineers to buy a slide rule anymore, as everyone could afford the TI-30. In ISRM's opinion, the official date of the death of the slide rule occurred on Jwhen Texas Instruments introduced the single chip TI-30 scientific slide rule calculator for $24.95 USD, which was below the cost of a comparable slide rule. However, because the exhorbitant manufacturing cost of the HP calculators put them out of reach of 90% of the general populace, the slide rule continued its popularity and usefulness for four more years. Some students sold their cars to be able to afford one.
Even though the introductory price was $395.00, engineers and engineering students flocked to the stores to get these (much like the iPod craze of today). The HP-35 was named by Bill Hewlett for the number of keys on the calculator and in 1972 was the beginning of the demise of the slide rule as we know it, Hewlett-Packard announced the HP-35 as a fast, extremely accurate electronic slide rule with a solid-state memory similar to that of a computer. However, the first hand-held calculator with scientific or 'slide rule' functions that was offered to the public was by Hewlett-Packard. Texas Instruments (TI) invented the first integrated circuit in 1958, courtesy of TI inventor Jack Kilby, and the hand-held calculator, a prototype called "Cal Tech", invented by TI's Jerry Merryman in 1967. With related calculators from the early 80's Electronic Slide Rule Calculators (1972-1979)