History of the Calculator

By Lindsay HamiltonEDUC 515

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CALCULATOR STARTED MANY YEARS AGO. . .

The Abacus

• Developed in the 9th Century by the Chinese

• Was used by the Iranians, Mesopotamians, Greeks and many more cultures.

• Can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square root and cube root.

First Mechanical Calculator

• In 1645 19 year-old Blaise Pascal created a calculator that lets you add and subtract with minimal physical effort.

• The gears only turn in one direction and use the rules of nines.

Computometers and Adding Machines

• Computometers are machines where numbers are punched into the machine.

- Can do addition or subtraction.

• Adding Machines are more basic than computometers.- Can only add and You must then crank a

handle to do calculations.

Napier’s Bones

Used for multiplication and division.

The number on top is one factor and then you use the numbers on the side. One must read the diagonals in order to find the answer.

Slide Rule

Mostly used to multiply and divide but can be used for square roots, logarithms and trigonometry.

In its most basic form, the slide rule uses two logarithmic scales to allow rapid multiplication and division of numbers.

Electronic Calculators

1960’s is the start of the electronic calculator.

Bell Punch Co. LTD and Sumlock-Comptometer LTD of England introduce the "Anita" which is claimed to be the world's first fully electronic desk-top calculator.

However, the machine weighed 33 pounds and used dozens of vacuum tubes (called valves in England) along with hundreds of other discrete components.

Texas Instrument Calculators

In 1966 Texas Instruments introduced the first hand-held calculator.

Revolutionized how calculators were used.

Today’s calculators

Today’s calculators come in all forms.

1980’s and Today

Today’s Calculators

On our cell phones we can do regular calculations and we even have currency convertors and tip calculators.

Also, we can get scientific calculators downloaded on our computers and we have a calculators on our computers.

Future of Calculators

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?