Calculator

A calculator is a device for performing numerical calculations. The type is considered distinct from both a calculating machine and a computer in that the calculator is a special-purpose device that may not qualify as a Turing machine. Although modern calculators often incorporate a general purpose computer, the device as a whole is designed for ease of use to perform specific operations, rather than for flexibility.

History

Origin: The Abacus

The first calculators were abacuses, and were often constructed as a wooden frame with beads sliding on wires. Abacuses were in use centuries before the adoption of the written Arabic numerals system and are still widely used by merchants and clerks in China and elsewhere.

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The 17th century

Wilhelm Schickard built the first automatic calculator called the "Calculating Clock" in 1623. Some 20 years later, in 1645, French philosopher Blaise Pascal invented the calculation device later known as Pascal's calculator, which was used for taxes in France until 1799.

Related Topics:
Wilhelm Schickard - Blaise Pascal - Pascal's calculator

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1930s to 1960s

From approximately the 1930s through the 1960s, mechanical calculators were often used (see Mechanical Calculator under History of computing hardware). These desktop devices were motor-driven and had multiple columns of keys for each digit. Addition and subtraction were performed in a single operation, as on a conventional adding machine, but multiplication and division were accomplished by repeated mechanical additions and subtractions. Handheld mechanical calculators such as the Curta continued to be used until they were displaced by electronic calculators in the 1970s.

Related Topics:
1930s - 1960s - History of computing hardware - Addition - Subtraction - Multiplication - Division - Curta

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In 1954, IBM demonstrated a large all-transistor calculator. In 1957, IBM released the first commercial all-transistor calculator (the IBM 608). In 1964, Sharp introduced the CS-10A—the world's first all-transistor desktop calculator—which weighed 25 kg (55 lb) and cost 500,000 yen (~US$2500). The first handheld electronic calculators went on sale in 1970 with models from Japanese manufacturers Sharp and Canon weighing around 770 g (1.7 lb).

Related Topics:
1954 - IBM - Transistor - 1957 - Sharp - 1970 - Canon

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1970s to mid-1980s

In the early 1970s, the Monroe EPIC programmable calculator came on the market. A large desk-top unit, with an attached floor-standing logic tower, it was capable of being programmed to perform many computer-like functions. However, the only branch instruction was an implied unconditional branch (GOTO) at the end of the operation stack, returning the program to its starting instruction. Thus, it was not possible to include any conditional branch (IF-THEN-ELSE) logic. During this era, the absence of the conditional branch was sometimes used to distinguish a programmable calculator from a computer.

Related Topics:
1970s - Conditional branch

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The first pocket-sized calculator, the Bowmar 901B (popularly referred to as The Bowmar Brain), measuring 5.2×3.0×1.5 in (131×77×37 mm), came out in the fall of 1971, with four functions and an eight-digit red LED display, for $240, while in August 1972 the four-function Sinclair Executive became the first slimline pocket calculator measuring 5.4×2.2×0.35 in (138×56×9 mm) and weighing 2.5 oz (70g). It retailed for around $150 (GB£79). By the end of the decade, similar calculators were priced less than $10 (GB£5).

Related Topics:
1971 - LED - 1972 - Sinclair Executive - GB£

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The first pocket calculator with scientific functions, i.e. the first slide rule-replacing model, was the 1972 HP-35 from Hewlett Packard (HP); it, along with all later HP engineering calculators, used reverse Polish notation (RPN) (where a calculation like "6 – 2" is performed by pressing "6", "Enter↑", "2", and "–"; instead of algebraically: "6", "–", "2", "=").

Related Topics:
HP-35 - Hewlett Packard (HP) - Reverse Polish notation

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Most common among early scientific calculators was the TI-30 from Texas Instruments (TI). The first programmable hand-held calculator was the HP-65, in 1974; it had a capacity of 100 instructions, and could store and retrieve programs with a built-in magnetic card reader. A year later the HP-25C introduced continuous memory, i.e. programs and data were retained in memory during power-off. In 1979, HP released the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable calculator, the HP-41C. It could be expanded with RAM (memory) and ROM (software) modules, as well as peripherals like bar code readers, microcassette and floppy disk drives, paper-roll thermal printers, and miscellaneous communication interfaces (RS-232, HP-IL, HP-IB).

Related Topics:
TI-30 - Texas Instruments (TI) - HP-65 - 1974 - HP-25C - 1979 - Alphanumeric - HP-41C - RAM - ROM - Bar code - Microcassette - Floppy disk - Thermal printer - RS-232 - HP-IL - HP-IB

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Mid-1980s to present

The two leading manufacturers, HP and TI, released steadily more feature-laden calculators during the 1980s and 90s. At the turn of the millennium, the line between a graphing calculator and a PDA/ handheld computer was not always clear (forgetting the keyboard for the sake of the argument), as some very advanced calculators such as the TI-89 and HP-49G could differentiate and integrate functions, run word processing and PIM software, and connect by wire or IR to other calculators/computers.

Related Topics:
Graphing calculator - Handheld computer - TI-89 - HP-49G - Differentiate - Integrate - Function - Word processing - PIM - IR

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In March 2002, HP announced that the company would no longer produce calculators, which was hard to fathom for some fans of the company's products; the HP-48 range in particular had an extremely loyal customer base. Nevertheless, HP restarted their production of calculators in late 2003. The new models, however, reportedly didn't have the mechanical quality and sober design HP's earlier calculators were famous for (instead featuring the more "youthful" look and feel of contemporary competing designs from TI).

Related Topics:
2002 - HP-48

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The business calculator HP-12C is still produced. It was introduced in 1981 and is still being made with nearly no changes. In 2003 several new models were released, including an improved version of the HP-12C, the "HP-12C platinum edition".

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