Calculator
How Calculators Work
There may have been some time when the most complicated computations people were required to make could be executed using their fingers or toes. However, today it's nearly impossible for many people to imagine performing any task that involves numbersfor everything from math assignments from tax forms to tipping servers at restaurants with out the aid of at the very least a pocket calculator. Actually, electronic calculators are so ubiquitous that it's hard imagine that they weren't widespread until the latter half of the 20 th century.
Before the invention in the present-day calculator the people were using other devices for computation. The abaci for instance, is one of the ancestors of the calculator. Most likely originally of Babylonian origin the earliest abaci can be believed to be boards that had the position of counters reflected numerical values. The modern abacus -- that can still be used today from China, Japan and the Middle East -- works by moving beads through wires that are strung on a frame (source: Britannica: Abacus].
In the latter half of the century, some people conducted computations using motor-assisted adding machines and others used mathematical tables and slides devices equipped with movable, graduated scales that, depending on what type you have, can handle everything from multiplication to trigonometry (source: Britannica: Slide Rule].
Then, in the 1960s, advancements in integrated circuitry led to electronic calculator, however, the early versions these calculators -- made by companies such as Sharp as well as Texas Instruments -- looked far from the type you carry around today in your backpack or briefcase.
To know more about the development of the electronic calculator and learn how consumer demand of smaller-sized calculators lead to creation of microchips , which power the appliances we use every everyday, keep reading.
Advertisementhttps://fbe7c359baef375ed91a4619ee1bc775.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.htmlContents
- Evolution of the Electronic Calculator
- Calculator Components
- How a Calculator Calculates
- Impact of Calculator Technology
Evolution of the Electronic Calculator
Graphing calculators have many advanced functions, including solving and graphing equations.(c) ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MBBIRDY
A variety of electronics firms and inventors could claim a first in the invention of the electronic calculator. Japanese firm Sharp is said to have created the premier desk calculator known as the CS-10A in 1964. This model resembled a cash register and cost around as much as mid-sized car (sources: Lewis, Sharp]. As of 1967, Texas Instruments developed what is called the first handheld and portable calculator -- which is a device capable of performing addition to, subtraction, multiplication and division -- in a project that the company dubbed "Cal Tech" [sources: Courier Mail, Texas Instruments].
Utilizing "Cal Tech" technology, Canon created its first hand-held calculator for commercial use which debuted in 1970 with the price of $400 [source: Texas Instruments]. The following few years would be something of a race between manufacturers to create calculators that were smaller, simpler to access and less expensive. It was in 1972 that British innovator Sir Clive Sinclair introduced the Sinclair Executive, which is considered by many to be the world's first affordable pocket calculator [sources: The Press, Western Daily PressThe Press, Western Daily Press. Its weight was similar to cigarettes in a pack.
These continued advancements regarding calculator technology were due to the development of the single-chip microprocessor in the 1960s. Before this time, engineers built the computing "brains" of calculators (and computers) using multiple chips or other components. A single-chip microprocessor allows a whole central processing unit (CPU) to exist within a silicon microchip. (To know more about this technology, check out the article How Microprocessors work.)
Intel Corp. created the first microprocessor with a single chip that was available commercially called The Intel 4004 -- in 1971 [sources: Behar, Intel]. It was able to perform basic arithmetic with 4 bits of information at time. However, Intel's cofounder, Gordon Moore, predicted that the capacity of one chip would double around once every two years. This concept is known as "Moore's Law," and until today, it holds true. Not only did calculators become smaller over the years, they became capable of increasingly sophisticated application [source: Intel].
Nowadays, in addition to contemporary versions of the traditional pocket calculator sophisticated scientific and graphing calculators are available and used by professionals and students like engineers. Many use well-known computer languages and can be programmed according to the needs of the user. In fact the time that Texas Instruments introduced its TI-92 model in 1995, they described it "a calculator with the power of a computer lab" [source: Texas Instruments]. Many scientific and graphing calculators have the capacity to perform several of these things:
- The switch from the standard base-ten to different number systems (hexadecimal counting, which is one of the bases-16 systems)
- Utilizing scientific notation to calculate extremely large numbers
- By using logarithms and trigonometric functions directly
- Working with constants such as pi and e with a much higher degree of accuracy
- Utilizing complicated numbers such as fractions, formulas, and fractions
- Solving equations
- The analysis of statistics
- Making use of larger displays to work out formulas and graph equations
Follow the next section to learn information about the solar cell, circuit board along with other components of the calculator.
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