Calculator
How Calculators Work
There may have been some time when the most complicated computations people needed to do could be executed using their fingers or toes. But these days, it's all but impossible for most people to imagine working on anything that involves numbersfrom math homework and tax return filings to tipping server in restaurants without the assistance of at least a basic pocket calculator. In fact, electronic calculators have become so widespread that it's hard to believe that they didn't become widely used until the middle of the 20 century. century.
Before the advent that modern calculator there were other tools to compute. The abaci, for example, is one ancestor of the calculator. Likely it is of Babylonian origin The earliest abaci were believed to have been boards on which the location of counters represented the numerical value. But the current abacus -- that some people still use today throughout China, Japan and the Middle East -- works by transferring beads across wires that are strung across frames (source: Britannica: Abacus].
In the latter half of the century, there were people who performed computations using motor-assisted adding machines and others used mathematical tables or slide rules -- devices with movable, graduated scales that, depending on what type you have, can handle everything from multiplication to trigonometry Source: Britannica: Slide Rule[source: Britannica: Slide Rule.
In the 1960s, advances in integrated circuitry led the creation of electronic calculators but the initial versions of these devices -- created by companies such as Sharp and Texas Instruments -- looked quite different from the ones you carry around today in your backpack or briefcase.
To find out more about the evolution of the modern electronic calculator -- and see how the demand from consumers to use smaller calculators led to the creation of microchips to power our appliances every throughout the day -- 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
Many electronics companies and inventors have claimed a first in the development of the electronic calculator. Japanese business Sharp is said to have created the original computer-based desktop calculator model, the CS-10A in 1964. It was similar to a cash register and cost about equal to a mid-sized car (sources: Lewis, Sharp]. The year was 1967. Texas Instruments developed what was dubbed the first handheld, portable calculator (a device capable of performing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division in a program that was named by the company "Cal Tech" [sources: Courier Mail, Texas InstrumentsThe Courier Mail and Texas Instruments.
Utilizing "Cal Tech" technology, Canon developed its first hand-held calculator that was designed for commercial use that debuted in the year 1970, sporting an initial price around $400. Source: Texas Instruments]. The following few years would be an up-and-down battle between companies to design calculators that were smaller, easier to use and less expensive. The year 1972 was when British engineer Sir Clive Sinclair introduced the Sinclair Executive, which is believed by many to be the world's most affordable pocket calculator [sources: The Press, Western Daily Press]. Its weight was similar to cigarettes.
These constant advances of calculator technology were largely result of the development of the single-chip microprocessor in the 1960s. Prior to this engineers designed the computing "brains" of calculators (and computers) using multiple chips or other components. The basic concept behind a single chip microprocessor is that it allows a whole central processing unit (CPU) to be located on one silicon microchip. (To find out more about this technique, see the article How Microprocessors Function.)
Intel Corp. created the first microprocessor available for sale on the market -- Intel 4004 Intel 4004 -- in 1971 (sources: Behar, Intel]. It was able of performing basic arithmetic, 4 bits of information at a time. However, Intel's co-founder Gordon Moore, predicted that the capabilities of the chip would be doubled around each two years. This concept is known as "Moore's Law," and until today, it holds as true. The calculators not only became smaller, they were also able of more advanced application Source: Intel].
Nowadays, in addition to newer versions of the standard pocket calculator, complex scientific and graphing calculators are in use by professionals as well as students such as engineers. Many use well-known computer languages and can be programmed according to the requirements of the user. In fact when Texas Instruments introduced its TI-92 model in 1995 they called"TI-92 "a calculator with the power of a computer lab" [source: Texas Instruments]. Many scientific and graphing calculators are capable of some of these functions:
- It is a transition from the genérico base-ten to other number systems (hexadecimal counting, is an example of a system that is base-16)
- Using scientific notation to calculate huge numbers
- Utilizing trigonometric and logarithm functions directly
- Working with constants such as pi and e at higher levels of precision
- Utilizing complicated numbers including fractions, formulas and equations
- Solving equations
- Analyzing statistics
- Using larger displays to determine graphs and formulas
Go to the next section to learn how solar panels, circuit boards, and the various additional components of a calculator.
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