Wang Laboratories

Calculators

The Wang LOCI-2 (there had been a LOCI-1 but it was not a real product) was introduced in 1965 and was probably the first desktop calculator capable of computing logarithms, quite an achievement for a machine without any integrated circuits. The electronics included 1275 discrete transistors. It actually performed multiplication by adding logarithms, and roundoff in the display conversion was noticeable; 2 times 2 yielded 3.999999999.

Related Topics:
Wang LOCI-2 - Calculator - Logarithm - Integrated circuit - Transistor

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1965 to about 1971, Wang was a calculator company, and a very well-regarded one. Wang calculators cost in the mid-four-figures, used Nixie tube readouts, performed transcendental functions, had varying degrees of programmability, and exploited magnetic core memory in ingenious ways. Competition included HP, which introduced the HP9100A in 1968, and old-line calculator companies such as Monroe and Marchant.

Related Topics:
Nixie tube - Magnetic core memory - HP - Monroe - Marchant

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wang calculators were at first sold to scientists and engineers, but the company later won a solid niche in financial-services industries, which had previously relied on complicated printed tables for mortages and annuities.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One perhaps apocryphal story tells of a banker who spot-checked a Wang calculator against a mortgage table and found a discrepancy. The calculator was right, the printed tables were wrong, and the company's reputation was made.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the early seventies, Dr. Wang believed that calculators would become unprofitable low-margin commodities, and decided to exit the calculator business.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~