Calculator

An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to

perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex
mathematics.

The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s.
Pocket-sized devices became available in the 1970s, especially after the
Intel 4004, the first microprocessor, was developed by Intel for the
Japanese calculator company Busicom. Modern electronic calculators
vary from cheap, give-away, credit-card-sized models to sturdy desktop An electronic pocket
models with built-in printers. They became popular in the mid-1970s as calculator with a seven-
the incorporation of integrated circuits reduced their size and cost. By the segment liquid-crystal
display (LCD) that can
end of that decade, prices had dropped to the point where a basic
perform arithmetic
calculator was affordable to most and they became common in schools.
operations

In addition to general purpose calculators, there are those designed for

specific markets. For example, there are scientific calculators, which
include trigonometric and statistical calculations. Some calculators even
have the ability to do computer algebra. Graphing calculators can be used
to graph functions defined on the real line, or higher-dimensional
Euclidean space. As of 2016, basic calculators cost little, but scientific and
graphing models tend to cost more.[1]

Computer operating systems as far back as early Unix have included

interactive calculator programs such as dc and hoc, and interactive BASIC
could be used to do calculations on most 1970s and 1980s home
computers. Calculator functions are included in most smartphones, tablets,
and personal digital assistant (PDA) type devices. With the very wide
availability of smartphones and the like, dedicated hardware calculators,
while still widely used, are less common than they once were. In 1986,
calculators still represented an estimated 41% of the world's general- A modern scientific
purpose hardware capacity to compute information. By 2007, this had calculator with an LCD
diminished to less than 0.05%.[2]

Design

Input
Electronic calculators contain a keyboard with buttons for digits and arithmetical operations; some even
contain "00" and "000" buttons to make larger or smaller numbers easier to enter. Most basic calculators
assign only one digit or operation on each button; however, in more specific calculators, a button can
perform multi-function working with key combinations.

Display output
Calculators usually have liquid-crystal displays (LCD) as output in
place of historical light-emitting diode (LED) displays and
vacuum fluorescent displays (VFD); details are provided in the
section Technical improvements.

Large-sized figures are often used to improve readability; while

using decimal separator (usually a point rather than a comma) Scientific calculator displays of
instead of or in addition to vulgar fractions. Various symbols for fractions and decimal equivalents
function commands may also be shown on the display. Fractions
such as 1⁄3 are displayed as decimal approximations, for example
rounded to 0.33333333. Also, some fractions (such as 1⁄7, which is 0.14285714285714; to 14
significant figures) can be difficult to recognize in decimal form; as a result, many scientific calculators
are able to work in vulgar fractions or mixed numbers.

Memory
Calculators also have the ability to save numbers into computer memory. Basic calculators usually store
only one number at a time; more specific types are able to store many numbers represented in variables.
Usually these variables are named ans or ans(0).[3] The variables can also be used for constructing
formulas. Some models have the ability to extend memory capacity to store more numbers; the extended
memory address is termed an array index.

Power source
Power sources of calculators are batteries, solar cells or mains electricity (for old models), turning on
with a switch or button. Some models even have no turn-off button but they provide some way to put off
(for example, leaving no operation for a moment, covering solar cell exposure, or closing their lid).
Crank-powered calculators were also common in the early computer era.

Key layout
The following keys are common to most pocket calculators. While the arrangement of the digits is
standard, the positions of other keys vary from model to model; the illustration is an example.
 Calculator buttons and their meanings
MC or
Memory Clear
CM

MR, RM,
Memory Recall
or MRC

M− Memory Subtraction
M+ Memory Addition Typical layout of a basic pocket calculator

C or AC All Clear MC MR M− M+
Clear (last) Entry; sometimes called CE/C: a first
CE press clears the last entry (CE), a second press C ± % √
clears all (C)
7 8 9 ÷
Toggle positive/negative number aka CHange
± or CHS
Sign
4 5 6 ×
% Percent

÷ Division 1 2 3 −

× Multiplication
0 . = +
− Subtraction

+ Addition
. Decimal point

√ Square root

= Result

The arrangement of digits on calculator and other numeric keypads with the 7 - 8 - 9 keys two rows
above the 1 - 2 - 3 keys is derived from calculators and cash registers. It is notably different from the
layout of telephone Touch-Tone keypads which have the 1 - 2 - 3 keys on top and 7 - 8 - 9 keys on the
third row.

Internal workings
In general, a basic electronic calculator consists of the following components:[4]

Power source (mains electricity, battery and/or solar cell)

Keypad (input device) – consists of keys used to input numbers and function commands
(addition, multiplication, square-root, etc.)
Display panel (output device) – displays input numbers, commands and results. Liquid-
crystal displays (LCDs), vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), and light-emitting diode (LED)
displays use seven segments to represent each digit in a basic calculator. Advanced
calculators may use dot matrix displays.
A printing calculator, in addition to a display panel, has a printing unit that prints results
in ink onto a roll of paper, using a printing mechanism.
Processor chip (microprocessor or central processing unit).
 Processor chip's contents
Unit Function

Scanning When a calculator is powered on, it scans the keypad

(Polling) unit waiting to pick up an electrical signal when a key is pressed.

Encoder unit Converts the numbers and functions into binary code.
They are number stores where numbers are stored
X register and temporarily while doing calculations. All numbers go into the
Y register X register first; the number in the X register is shown on the
display.

The function for the calculation is stored here until the

Flag register
calculator needs it.

The instructions for in-built functions (arithmetic operations,

Permanent
square roots, percentages, trigonometry, etc.) are stored
memory
here in binary form. These instructions are programs, stored
(ROM)
permanently, and cannot be erased. The interior of a Casio FX-
User memory The store where numbers can be stored by the user. User 991s calculator
(RAM) memory contents can be changed or erased by the user.

Arithmetic
The ALU executes all arithmetic and logic instructions, and
logic unit
provides the results in binary coded form.
(ALU)

Binary Converts binary code into decimal numbers which can be

decoder unit displayed on the display unit.

Clock rate of a processor chip refers to the frequency at which the central processing unit (CPU) is
running. It is used as an indicator of the processor's speed, and is measured in clock cycles per second or
hertz (Hz). For basic calculators, the speed can vary from a few hundred hertz to the kilohertz range.

Example
A basic explanation as to how calculations are performed in a simple four-
function calculator:

To perform the calculation 25 + 9, one presses keys in the following

sequence on most calculators: 2 5 + 9 = .

When 2 5 is entered, it is picked up by the scanning

unit; the number 25 is encoded and sent to the X register;
Next, when the + key is pressed, the "addition"
instruction is also encoded and sent to the flag or the
status register;
An office calculating
The second number 9 is encoded and sent to the X
register. This "pushes" (shifts) the first number out into the machine with a paper
Y register; printer

When the = key is pressed, a "message" (signal) from

the flag or status register tells the permanent or non-
volatile memory that the operation to be done is "addition";
The numbers in the X and Y registers are then loaded into the ALU and the calculation
is carried out following instructions from the permanent or non-volatile memory;
The answer, 34 is sent (shifted) back to the X register. From there, it is converted by
the binary decoder unit into a decimal number (usually binary-coded decimal), and
 then shown on the display panel.

Other functions are usually performed using repeated additions or subtractions.

Numeric representation
Most pocket calculators do all their calculations in binary-coded decimal (BCD) rather than binary. BCD
is common in electronic systems where a numeric value is to be displayed, especially in systems
consisting solely of digital logic, and not containing a microprocessor. By employing BCD, the
manipulation of numerical data for display can be greatly simplified by treating each digit as a separate
single sub-circuit. This matches much more closely the physical reality of display hardware—a designer
might choose to use a series of separate identical seven-segment displays to build a metering circuit, for
example. If the numeric quantity were stored and manipulated as pure binary, interfacing to such a
display would require complex circuitry. Therefore, in cases where the calculations are relatively simple,
working throughout with BCD can lead to a simpler overall system than converting to and from binary.
(For example, CDs keep the track number in BCD, limiting them to 99 tracks.)

The same argument applies when hardware of this type uses an embedded microcontroller or other small
processor. Often, smaller code results when representing numbers internally in BCD format, since a
conversion from or to binary representation can be expensive on such limited processors. For these
applications, some small processors feature BCD arithmetic modes, which assist when writing routines
that manipulate BCD quantities.[5][6]

Where calculators have added functions (such as square root, or trigonometric functions), software
algorithms are required to produce high precision results. Sometimes significant design effort is needed to
fit all the desired functions in the limited memory space available in the calculator chip, with acceptable
calculation time.[7]

History

Precursors to the electronic calculator

The first known tools used to aid arithmetic calculations were: bones (used to tally items), pebbles, and
counting boards, and the abacus, known to have been used by Sumerians and Egyptians before
2000 BC.[8] Except for the Antikythera mechanism (an "out of the time" astronomical device),
development of computing tools arrived near the start of the 17th century: the geometric-military
compass (by Galileo), logarithms and Napier bones (by Napier), and the slide rule (by Edmund
Gunter).[1]

The Renaissance saw the invention of the mechanical calculator by Wilhelm Schickard in 1623,[9] and
later by Blaise Pascal in 1642.[10] A device that was at times somewhat over-promoted as being able to
perform all four arithmetic operations with minimal human intervention.[11] Pascal's calculator could add
and subtract two numbers directly and thus, if the tedium could be borne, multiply and divide by
repetition. Schickard's machine, constructed several decades earlier, used a clever set of mechanised
multiplication tables to ease the process of multiplication and division with the adding machine as a
means of completing this operation. There is a debate about whether Pascal or Shickard should be
credited as the known inventor of a calculating machine due to the
differences (like the different aims) of both inventions.[12]
Schickard and Pascal were followed by Gottfried Leibniz who
spent forty years designing a four-operation mechanical calculator,
the stepped reckoner, inventing in the process his leibniz wheel,
but who couldn't design a fully operational machine.[13] There
were also five unsuccessful attempts to design a calculating clock
in the 17th century.[14] 17th century mechanical calculators

The 18th century saw the

arrival of some notable improvements, first by Poleni with the first
fully functional calculating clock and four-operation machine, but
these machines were almost always one of a kind. Luigi Torchi
invented the first direct multiplication machine in 1834: this was
also the second key-driven machine in the world, following that of
James White (1822).[15] It was not until the 19th century and the
The Grant mechanical calculating Industrial Revolution that real developments began to occur.
machine, 1877 Although machines capable of performing all four arithmetic
functions existed prior to the 19th century, the refinement of
manufacturing and fabrication processes during the eve of the
industrial revolution made large scale production of more compact and modern units possible. The
Arithmometer, invented in 1820 as a four-operation mechanical calculator, was released to production in
1851 as an adding machine and became the first commercially successful unit; forty years later, by 1890,
about 2,500 arithmometers had been sold[16] plus a few hundreds more from two arithmometer clone
makers (Burkhardt, Germany, 1878 and Layton, UK, 1883) and Felt and Tarrant, the only other
competitor in true commercial production, had sold 100 comptometers.[17]

It wasn't until 1902 that the familiar push-button user interface was
developed, with the introduction of the Dalton Adding Machine,
developed by James L. Dalton in the United States.

In 1921, Edith Clarke invented the "Clarke calculator", a simple graph-

based calculator for solving line equations involving hyperbolic functions.
This allowed electrical engineers to simplify calculations for inductance
and capacitance in power transmission lines.[18]

The Curta calculator was developed in 1948 and, although costly, became
popular for its portability. This purely mechanical hand-held device could
do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. By the early 1970s
electronic pocket calculators ended manufacture of mechanical
calculators, although the Curta remains a popular collectable item. Patent image of the Clarke
graph-based calculator,
1921
Development of electronic calculators
The first mainframe computers, initially using vacuum tubes and later
transistors in the logic circuits, appeared in the 1940s and 1950s. Electronic circuits developed for
computers also had application to electronic calculators.
The Casio Computer Company, in Japan, released the Model 14-A calculator in 1957, which was the
world's first all-electric (relatively) compact calculator. It did not use electronic logic but was based on
relay technology, and was built into a desk. The IBM 608 plugboard programmable calculator was IBM's
first all-transistor product, released in 1957; this was a console type system, with input and output on
punched cards, and replaced the earlier, larger, vacuum-tube IBM 603.

In October 1961, the world's first all-electronic desktop calculator,

the British Bell Punch/Sumlock Comptometer ANITA (A New
Inspiration To Arithmetic/Accounting) was announced.[19][20]
This machine used vacuum tubes, cold-cathode tubes and
Dekatrons in its circuits, with 12 cold-cathode "Nixie" tubes for its Early calculator light-emitting diode
(LED) display from the 1970s
display. Two models were displayed, the Mk VII for continental
(USSR)
Europe and the Mk VIII for Britain and the rest of the world, both
for delivery from early 1962. The Mk VII was a slightly earlier
design with a more complicated mode of multiplication, and was soon dropped in favour of the simpler
Mark VIII. The ANITA had a full keyboard, similar to mechanical comptometers of the time, a feature
that was unique to it and the later Sharp CS-10A among electronic calculators. The ANITA weighed
roughly 33 pounds (15 kg) due to its large tube system.[21] Bell Punch had been producing key-driven
mechanical calculators of the comptometer type under the names "Plus" and "Sumlock", and had realised
in the mid-1950s that the future of calculators lay in electronics. They employed the young graduate
Norbert Kitz, who had worked on the early British Pilot ACE computer project, to lead the development.
The ANITA sold well since it was the only electronic desktop calculator available, and was silent and
quick.

The tube technology of the ANITA was superseded in June 1963 by the U.S. manufactured Friden EC-
130, which had an all-transistor design, a stack of four 13-digit numbers displayed on a 5-inch (13 cm)
cathode-ray tube (CRT), and introduced Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) to the calculator market for a
price of $2200, which was about three times the cost of an electromechanical calculator of the time. Like
Bell Punch, Friden was a manufacturer of mechanical calculators that had decided that the future lay in
electronics. In 1964 more all-transistor electronic calculators were introduced: Sharp introduced the CS-
10A, which weighed 25 kilograms (55 lb) and cost 500,000 yen ($4555.81), and Industria Macchine
Elettroniche of Italy introduced the IME 84, to which several extra keyboard and display units could be
connected so that several people could make use of it (but apparently not at the same time). The Victor
3900 was the first to use integrated circuits in place of individual transistors, but production problems
delayed sales until 1966.

There followed a series of electronic calculator models from these

and other manufacturers, including Canon, Mathatronics, Olivetti,
SCM (Smith-Corona-Marchant), Sony, Toshiba, and Wang. The
early calculators used hundreds of germanium transistors, which
were cheaper than silicon transistors, on multiple circuit boards.
Display types used were CRT, cold-cathode Nixie tubes, and
filament lamps. Memory technology was usually based on the
delay-line memory or the magnetic-core memory, though the
Toshiba "Toscal" BC-1411 appears to have used an early form of
The Bulgarian ELKA 22 from 1967
dynamic RAM built from discrete components. Already there was
a desire for smaller and less power-hungry machines.
Bulgaria's ELKA 6521,[22][23] introduced in 1965, was developed by the Central Institute for Calculation
Technologies and built at the Elektronika factory in Sofia. The name derives from ELektronen
KAlkulator, and it weighed around 8 kg (18 lb). It is the first calculator in the world which includes the
square root function. Later that same year were released the ELKA 22 (with a luminescent
display)[22][24][25] and the ELKA 25, with an built-in printer. Several other models were developed until
the first pocket model, the ELKA 101, was released in 1974. The writing on it was in Roman script, and it
was exported to western countries.[22][26][27][28]

Programmable calculators
The first desktop programmable calculators were produced in the
mid-1960s. They included the Mathatronics Mathatron (1964) and
the Olivetti Programma 101 (late 1965) which were solid-state,
desktop, printing, floating point, algebraic entry, programmable,
stored-program electronic calculators.[29][30] Both could be
programmed by the end user and print out their results. The
Programma 101 saw much wider distribution and had the added
The Italian Programma 101, an feature of offline storage of programs via magnetic cards.[30]
early commercial programmable
calculator produced by Olivetti in Another early programmable desktop calculator (and maybe the
1964 first Japanese one) was the Casio (AL-1000) produced in 1967. It
featured a nixie tubes display and had transistor electronics and
ferrite core memory.[31]

The Monroe Epic programmable calculator came on the market in 1967. A large, printing, desk-top unit,
with an attached floor-standing logic tower, it could be 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.

The first Soviet programmable desktop calculator ISKRA 123, powered by the power grid, was released
at the start of the 1970s.

1970s to mid-1980s
The electronic calculators of the mid-1960s were large and heavy desktop machines due to their use of
hundreds of transistors on several circuit boards with a large power consumption that required an AC
power supply. There were great efforts to put the logic required for a calculator into fewer and fewer
integrated circuits (chips) and calculator electronics was one of the leading edges of semiconductor
development. U.S. semiconductor manufacturers led the world in large scale integration (LSI)
semiconductor development, squeezing more and more functions into individual integrated circuits. This
led to alliances between Japanese calculator manufacturers and U.S. semiconductor companies: Canon
Inc. with Texas Instruments, Hayakawa Electric (later renamed Sharp Corporation) with North-American
Rockwell Microelectronics (later renamed Rockwell International), Busicom with Mostek and Intel, and
General Instrument with Sanyo.

Pocket calculators
By 1970, a calculator could be made using just a few chips of low power consumption, allowing portable
models powered from rechargeable batteries. The first handheld calculator was a 1967 prototype called
Cal Tech, whose development was led by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments in a research project to
produce a portable calculator. It could add, multiply, subtract, and divide, and its output device was a
paper tape.[32][33][34][35][36][37] As a result of the "Cal-Tech" project, Texas Instruments was granted
master patents on portable calculators.[a]

The first commercially produced portable calculators appeared in Japan in 1970, and were soon marketed
around the world. These included the Sanyo ICC-0081 "Mini Calculator", the Canon Pocketronic, and the
Sharp QT-8B "micro Compet". The Canon Pocketronic was a development from the "Cal-Tech" project.
It had no traditional display; numerical output was on thermal paper tape.

Sharp put in great efforts in size and power reduction and introduced in January 1971 the Sharp EL-8,
also marketed as the Facit 1111, which was close to being a pocket calculator. It weighed 1.59 pounds
(721 grams), had a vacuum fluorescent display, rechargeable NiCad batteries, and initially sold for
US$395.

However, integrated circuit development efforts culminated in early 1971 with the introduction of the
first "calculator on a chip", the MK6010 by Mostek,[40] followed by Texas Instruments later in the year.
Although these early hand-held calculators were very costly, these advances in electronics, together with
developments in display technology (such as the vacuum fluorescent display, LED, and LCD), led within
a few years to the cheap pocket calculator available to all.

In 1971, Pico Electronics[41] and General Instrument also introduced their first collaboration in ICs, a full
single chip calculator IC for the Monroe Royal Digital III calculator. Pico was a spinout by five GI design
engineers whose vision was to create single chip calculator ICs. Pico and GI went on to have significant
success in the burgeoning handheld calculator market.

The first truly pocket-sized electronic calculator was the Busicom LE-120A "HANDY", which was
marketed early in 1971.[42] Made in Japan, this was also the first calculator to use an LED display, the
first hand-held calculator to use a single integrated circuit (then proclaimed as a "calculator on a chip"),
the Mostek MK6010, and the first electronic calculator to run off replaceable batteries. Using four AA-
size cells the LE-120A measures 4.9 by 2.8 by 0.9 inches (124 mm × 71 mm × 23 mm).

The first European-made pocket-sized calculator, DB 800[43][44] was made in May 1971 by Digitron in
Buje, Croatia (former Yugoslavia) with four functions and an eight-digit display and special characters for
a negative number and a warning that the calculation has too many digits to display.

The first American-made pocket-sized calculator, the Bowmar 901B (popularly termed The Bowmar
Brain), measuring 5.2 by 3.0 by 1.5 inches (132 mm × 76 mm × 38 mm), came out in the Autumn of
1971, with four functions and an eight-digit red LED display, for US$240, while in August 1972 the four-
function Sinclair Executive became the first slimline pocket calculator measuring 5.4 by 2.2 by 0.35
inches (137.2 mm × 55.9 mm × 8.9 mm) and weighing 2.5 ounces (71 g). It retailed for around £79
(US$194 at the time). By the end of the decade, similar calculators were priced less than £5 ($6.85).
Following protracted development over the course of two years including a botched partnership with
Texas Instruments, Eldorado Electrodata released five pocket calculators in 1972. One called the Touch
Magic was "no bigger than a pack of cigarettes" according to Administrative Management.[45]

The first Soviet Union made pocket-sized calculator, the Elektronika B3-04[46] was developed by the end
of 1973 and sold at the start of 1974.

One of the first low-cost calculators was the Sinclair Cambridge, launched in August 1973. It retailed for
£29.95 ($41.03), or £5 ($6.85) less in kit form, and later models included some scientific functions. The
Sinclair calculators were successful because they were far cheaper than the competition; however, their
design led to slow and less accurate computations of transcendental functions (maximum three decimal
places of accuracy).[47]

Scientific pocket calculators

Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard (HP) had been developing a pocket calculator. Launched in early 1972, it
was unlike the other basic four-function pocket calculators then available in that it was the first pocket
calculator with scientific functions that could replace a slide rule. The $395 HP-35, along with nearly all
later HP engineering calculators, uses reverse Polish notation (RPN), also called postfix notation. A
calculation like "8 plus 5" is, using RPN, performed by pressing 8 , Enter↑ , 5 , and + ; instead of the
algebraic infix notation: 8 , + , 5 , = . It had 35 buttons and was based on Mostek Mk6020 chip.

The first Soviet scientific pocket-sized calculator the "B3-18" was completed by the end of 1975.

In 1973, Texas Instruments (TI) introduced the SR-10, (SR signifying slide rule) an algebraic entry
pocket calculator using scientific notation for $150. Shortly after the SR-11 featured an added key for
entering pi (π). It was followed the next year by the SR-50 which added log and trig functions to compete
with the HP-35, and in 1977 the mass-marketed TI-30 line which is still produced.

In 1978, a new company, Calculated Industries arose which focused on specialized markets. Their first
calculator, the Loan Arranger[48] (1978) was a pocket calculator marketed to the Real Estate industry with
preprogrammed functions to simplify the process of calculating payments and future values. In 1985, CI
launched a calculator for the construction industry called the Construction Master[49] which came
preprogrammed with common construction calculations (such as angles, stairs, roofing math, pitch, rise,
run, and feet-inch fraction conversions). This would be the first in a line of construction related
calculators.
Adler 81S pocket calculator with The Casio CM-602 Mini electronic
vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) calculator provided basic
from the mid-1970s. functions in the 1970s.

The 1972 Sinclair Executive The HP-35, the world's first

pocket calculator. scientific pocket calculator by
Hewlett Packard (1972).
 Canon Pocketronic calculator
prints output using paper tape
(1971).

Programmable pocket calculators

The first programmable pocket 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. Two years later the HP-25C
introduced continuous memory, i.e., programs and data were retained in CMOS memory during power-
off. In 1979, HP released the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable calculator, the HP-41C. It
could be expanded with random-access memory (RAM, for memory) and read-only memory (ROM, for
software) modules, and peripherals like bar code readers, microcassette and floppy disk drives, paper-roll
thermal printers, and miscellaneous communication interfaces (RS-232, HP-IL, HP-IB).

The first Soviet pocket battery-powered programmable calculator,

Elektronika B3-21, was developed by the end of 1976 and released
at the start of 1977.[50] The successor of B3-21, the Elektronika
B3-34 wasn't backward compatible with B3-21, even if it kept the
reverse Polish notation (RPN). Thus B3-34 defined a new
command set, which later was used in a series of later
programmable Soviet calculators. Despite very limited abilities
(98 bytes of instruction memory and about 19 stack and
The HP-65, the first programmable addressable registers), people managed to write all kinds of
pocket calculator (1974) programs for them, including adventure games and libraries of
calculus-related functions for engineers. Hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of programs were written for these machines, from
practical scientific and business software, which were used in real-life offices and labs, to fun games for
children. The Elektronika MK-52 calculator (using the extended B3-34 command set, and featuring
internal EEPROM memory for storing programs and external interface for EEPROM cards and other
periphery) was used in Soviet spacecraft program (for Soyuz TM-7 flight) as a backup of the board
computer.

This series of calculators was also noted for a large number of highly counter-intuitive mysterious
undocumented features, somewhat similar to "synthetic programming" of the American HP-41, which
were exploited by applying normal arithmetic operations to error messages, jumping to nonexistent
addresses and other methods. A number of respected monthly publications, including the popular science
magazine Nauka i Zhizn (Наука и жизнь, Science and Life), featured special columns, dedicated to
optimization methods for calculator programmers and updates on undocumented features for hackers,
which grew into a whole esoteric science with many branches, named "yeggogology" ("еггогология").
The error messages on those calculators appear as a Russian word "YEGGOG" ("ЕГГОГ") which,
unsurprisingly, is translated to "Error".

A similar hacker culture in the US revolved around the HP-41, which was also noted for a large number
of undocumented features and was much more powerful than B3-34.

Technical improvements
Through the 1970s the hand-held electronic calculator underwent
rapid development. The red LED and blue/green vacuum
fluorescent displays consumed a lot of power and the calculators
either had a short battery life (often measured in hours, so
rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries were common) or were
large so that they could take larger, higher capacity batteries. In
the early 1970s liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) were in their
infancy and there was a great deal of concern that they only had a
short operating lifetime. Busicom introduced the Busicom LE-
120A "HANDY" calculator, the first pocket-sized calculator and
the first with an LED display, and announced the Busicom LC
with LCD. However, there were problems with this display and
the calculator never went on sale. The first successful calculators
A calculator which runs on solar and
with LCDs were manufactured by Rockwell International and sold battery power
from 1972 by other companies under such names as: Dataking LC-
800, Harden DT/12, Ibico 086, Lloyds 40, Lloyds 100, Prismatic
500 (a.k.a. P500), Rapid Data Rapidman 1208LC. The LCDs were an early form using the Dynamic
Scattering Mode DSM with the numbers appearing as bright against a dark background. To present a
high-contrast display these models illuminated the LCD using a filament lamp and solid plastic light
guide, which negated the low power consumption of the display. These models appear to have been sold
only for a year or two.

A more successful series of calculators using a reflective DSM-LCD was launched in 1972 by Sharp Inc
with the Sharp EL-805, which was a slim pocket calculator. This, and another few similar models, used
Sharp's Calculator On Substrate (COS) technology. An extension of one glass plate needed for the liquid
crystal display was used as a substrate to mount the needed chips based on a new hybrid technology. The
COS technology may have been too costly since it was only used in a few models before Sharp reverted
to conventional circuit boards.

In the mid-1970s the first calculators appeared with field-effect, twisted nematic (TN) LCDs with dark
numerals against a grey background, though the early ones often had a yellow filter over them to cut out
damaging ultraviolet rays. The advantage of LCDs is that they are passive light modulators reflecting
light, which require much less power than light-emitting displays such as LEDs or VFDs. This led the
way to the first credit-card-sized calculators, such as the Casio Mini Card LC-78 of 1978, which could
run for months of normal use on button cells.
There were also improvements to the electronics inside the
calculators. All of the logic functions of a calculator had been
squeezed into the first "calculator on a chip" integrated circuits
(ICs) in 1971, but this was leading edge technology of the time
and yields were low and costs were high. Many calculators
continued to use two or more ICs, especially the scientific and the
programmable ones, into the late 1970s.

The power consumption of the integrated circuits was also Credit-card-sized, solar-powered
calculator by Braun (1987)
reduced, especially with the introduction of CMOS technology.
Appearing in the Sharp "EL-801" in 1972, the transistors in the
logic cells of CMOS ICs only used any appreciable power when
they changed state. The LED and VFD displays often required
added driver transistors or ICs, whereas the LCDs were more
amenable to being driven directly by the calculator IC itself.

With this low power consumption came the possibility of using

solar cells as the power source, realised around 1978 by
calculators such as the Royal Solar 1, Sharp EL-8026, and Teal
Photon.

Modern pocket calculator with solar

and battery powering
The interior of a Casio fx-20 The processor chip (integrated
scientific calculator from the mid- circuit package) inside a 1980s
1970s, using a VFD. The Sharp pocket calculator, marked
processor integrated circuit (IC) is SC6762 1•H. An LCD is directly
made by NEC (marked under the chip. This was a PCB-
μPD978C). Discrete electronic less design. No discrete
components like capacitors and components are used. The
resistors and the IC are mounted battery compartment at the top
on a printed circuit board (PCB). can hold two button cells.
This calculator uses a battery
pack as a power source.

Inside a Casio scientific calculator The interior of a newer (c. 2000)

from the mid-1990s, showing the pocket calculator. It uses a button
processor chip (small square; top- battery in combination with a
middle; left), keypad contacts, solar cell. The processor is a
right (with matching contacts on "Chip on Board" type, covered
the left), the back of the LCD (top; with dark epoxy.
marked 4L102E), battery
compartment, and other
components. The solar cell
assembly is under the chip.

Mass-market phase
At the start of the 1970s, hand-held electronic calculators were very costly, at two or three weeks' wages,
and so were a luxury item. The high price was due to their construction requiring many mechanical and
electronic components which were costly to produce, and production runs that were too small to exploit
economies of scale. Many firms saw that there were good profits to be made in the calculator business
with the margin on such high prices. However, the cost of calculators fell as components and their
production methods improved, and the effect of economies of scale was felt.

By 1976, the cost of the cheapest four-function pocket calculator had dropped to a few dollars, about 1/20
of the cost five years before. The results of this were that the pocket calculator was affordable, and that it
was now difficult for the manufacturers to make a profit from calculators, leading to many firms dropping
out of the business or closing. The firms that survived making calculators tended to be those with high
outputs of higher quality calculators, or producing high-specification scientific and programmable
calculators.

Mid-1980s to present
The first calculator capable of symbolic computing was the HP-
28C, released in 1987. It could, for example, solve quadratic
equations symbolically. The first graphing calculator was the
Casio fx-7000G released in 1985.

The two leading manufacturers, HP and TI, released increasingly

feature-laden calculators during the 1980s and 1990s. At the turn
of the millennium, the line between a graphing calculator and a
handheld computer was not always clear, as some very advanced The Elektronika MK-52 was a
calculators such as the TI-89, the Voyage 200 and HP-49G could programmable RPN-style calculator
differentiate and integrate functions, solve differential equations, that accepted extension modules; it
run word processing and PIM software, and connect by wire or IR was manufactured in the Soviet
to other calculators/computers. Union from 1985 to 1992

The HP 12c financial calculator is still produced. It was introduced

in 1981 and is still being made with few changes. The HP 12c featured the reverse Polish notation mode
of data entry. In 2003 several new models were released, including an improved version of the HP 12c,
the "HP 12c platinum edition" which added more memory, more built-in functions, and the addition of the
algebraic mode of data entry.

Calculated Industries competed with the HP 12c in the mortgage and real estate markets by differentiating
the key labeling; changing the "I", "PV", "FV" to easier labeling terms such as "Int", "Term", "Pmt", and
not using the reverse Polish notation. However, CI's more successful calculators involved a line of
construction calculators, which evolved and expanded in the 1990s to present. According to Mark
Bollman,[51] a mathematics and calculator historian and associate professor of mathematics at Albion
College, the "Construction Master is the first in a long and profitable line of CI construction calculators"
which carried them through the 1980s, 1990s, and to the present.

Use in education
In most countries, students use calculators for
schoolwork. There was some initial resistance to
the idea out of fear that basic or elementary
arithmetic skills would suffer. There remains
disagreement about the importance of the ability to
perform calculations in the head, with some
curricula restricting calculator use until a certain
level of proficiency has been obtained, while
others concentrate more on teaching estimation
methods and problem-solving. Research suggests
that inadequate guidance in the use of calculating
tools can restrict the kind of mathematical thinking
that students engage in.[52] Others have argued
that calculator use can even cause core
mathematical skills to atrophy, or that such use can A Texas Instruments TI- A Catiga CS-103
prevent understanding of advanced algebraic 30XIIS scientific calculator scientific calculator

concepts. [53] In December 2011 the UK's Minister

of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, voiced concern
that children can become "too dependent" on the use of calculators.[54] As a result, the use of calculators
is to be included as part of a review of the Curriculum.[54] In the United States, many math educators and
boards of education have enthusiastically endorsed the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM) standards and actively promoted the use of classroom calculators from kindergarten through
high school.

Calculators may in some circumstances be used within school and college examinations. In the United
Kingdom there are limitations on the type of calculator which may be used in an examination to avoid
malpractice. Some calculators which offer additional functionality have an "exam mode" setting which
makes them compliant with examination regulations.[55]

Personal computers
Personal computers often come with a calculator utility program
that emulates the appearance and functions of a calculator, using
the graphical user interface to portray a calculator. Examples
include the Windows Calculator, Apple's Calculator, and KDE's
KCalc. Most personal data assistants (PDAs) and smartphones
also have such a feature.

Calculators compared to computers A calculator with a graphical user

interface
The fundamental difference between a calculator and computer is
that a computer can be programmed in a way that allows the
program to take different branches according to intermediate results, while calculators are pre-designed
with specific functions (such as addition, multiplication, and logarithms) built in. The distinction is not
clear-cut: some devices classed as programmable calculators have programming functions, sometimes
with support for programming languages (such as RPL or TI-BASIC).

For instance, instead of a hardware multiplier, a calculator might implement floating point mathematics
with code in read-only memory (ROM), and compute trigonometric functions with the CORDIC
algorithm because CORDIC does not require much multiplication. Bit serial logic designs are more
common in calculators whereas bit parallel designs dominate general-purpose computers, because a bit
serial design minimizes chip complexity, but takes many more clock cycles. This distinction blurs with
high-end calculators, which use processor chips associated with computer and embedded systems design,
more so the Z80, MC68000, and ARM architectures, and some custom designs specialized for the
calculator market.

See also
Calculator spelling
Comparison of HP graphing calculators
Comparison of Texas Instruments graphing calculators
Formula calculator
HP calculators
History of computing hardware
Scientific calculator
Software calculator
Solar-powered calculator
Photomath

Notes
a. The Japanese Patent Office granted a patent in June 1978 to Texas Instruments (TI) based
on US patent 3819921, notwithstanding objections from 12 Japanese calculator
manufacturers. This gave TI the right to claim royalties retroactively to the original
publication of the Japanese patent application in August 1974. A TI spokesman said that it
would actively seek what was due, either in cash or technology cross-licensing agreements.
19 other countries, including the United Kingdom, had already granted a similar patent to
Texas Instruments.[38][39]

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Sources
Chapman, S. (31 October 1942). "Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) Tercentenary of the
calculating machine" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F150508a0). Nature. 150 (3809). London:
508–509. Bibcode:1942Natur.150..508C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1942Natur.150..
508C). doi:10.1038/150508a0 (https://doi.org/10.1038%2F150508a0).
Hamrick, Kathy B. (October 1996). "The History of the Hand-Held Electronic Calculator".
The American Mathematical Monthly. 103 (8): 633–639. doi:10.2307/2974875 (https://doi.or
g/10.2307%2F2974875). JSTOR 2974875 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2974875).
Houston, Keith (2023). Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator (htt
ps://wwnorton.com/books/9780393882148). Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-88214-8.
Ifrah, Georges (2001). The Universal History of Computing (https://archive.org/details/unset
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Marguin, Jean (1994). Histoire des instruments et machines à calculer, trois siècles de
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Williams, Michael R. (1997). History of Computing Technology. Los Alamitos, California:
IEEE Computer Society. ISBN 978-0-8186-7739-7.

Further reading
U.S. patent 2,668,661 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US2668661) – Complex computer
– G. R. Stibitz, Bell Laboratories, 1954 (filed 1941, refiled 1944), electromechanical (relay)
device that could calculate complex numbers, record, and print results.
U.S. patent 3,819,921 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US3819921) – Miniature electronic
calculator – J. S. Kilby, Texas Instruments, 1974 (originally filed 1967), handheld (45 ounces
(1.3 kg)) battery operated electronic device with thermal printer
U.S. patent 4,001,566 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US4001566) – Floating Point
Calculator With RAM Shift Register – 1977 (originally filed GB March 1971, US July 1971),
very early single chip calculator claim.
U.S. patent 5,623,433 (https://patents.google.com/patent/US5623433) – Extended
Numerical Keyboard with Structured Data-Entry Capability – J. H. Redin, 1997 (originally
filed 1996), Usage of Verbal Numerals as a way to enter a number.
 European Patent Office Database (http://ep.espacenet.com) – Many patents about
mechanical calculators are in classifications G06C15/04, G06C15/06, G06G3/02, G06G3/04
Collectors Guide to Pocket Calculators. by Guy Ball and Bruce Flamm, 1997, ISBN 1-
888840-14-5 – includes an extensive history of early pocket calculators and highlights over
1,500 different models from the early 1970s. Book still in print.
Suydam, Marilyn N. (December 1980). Calculators: A Categorized Compilation of
References. Supplement 1 (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED199087.pdf) (PDF).
Columbus, Ohio, US: Calculator Information Center, Ohio State University. ED199087.
SE034434. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210919201034/https://files.eric.ed.gov/f
ulltext/ED199087.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2022-10-16. (64
pages)

External links
30th Anniversary of the Calculator (http://sharp-world.com/corporate/info/his/h_company/19
94/) – From Sharp's web presentation of its history; including a picture of the CS-10A
desktop calculator
The Museum of HP calculators (http://www.hpmuseum.org) (Slide Rules and Mechanical
Calculators section (http://www.hpmuseum.org/prehp.htm))
Microprocessor and single chip calculator history; foundations in Glenrothes, Scotland (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20110720142104/http://www.spingal.plus.com/micro/)
HP-35 (https://web.archive.org/web/20220211065021/http://home.citycable.ch/pierrefleur/Ja
cques-Laporte/HP%2035%20Saga.htm) – A thorough analysis of the HP-35 firmware
including the Cordic algorithms and the bugs in the early ROM
Bell Punch Company and the development of the Anita calculator (http://www.anita-calculato
rs.info/) – The story of the first electronic desktop calculator
Dentaku-Museum (https://web.archive.org/web/20220121122943/http://www.dentaku-museu
m.com/) (in Japanese) – Shows mainly Japanese calculators but also others.

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