Calculator
How Calculators Work
There may have been an era where the most complicated calculations one needed to conduct could have been accomplished with just their fingers and toes. Nowadays it's virtually impossible for many to imagine doing anything that requires numbers- from math homework to tax returns to tipping servers at restaurants -- with out the aid of at the very least a pocket calculator. Electronic calculators are so widespread now that it's hard to believe they didn't become widespread until the latter half of the 20 th century.
Before the invention and development of the contemporary calculator before the invention of the modern calculator, people utilized other instruments for computation. The abacus for instance, is a precursor to the calculator. It is likely to be it is of Babylonian origin Early abaci may have been boards that had the position of counters stood for numbers. But the abaci of today -- which is still used by some in China, Japan and the Middle East -- works by moving beads along wires connected to frames [source: Britannica: Abacus].
For the majority of the century, some individuals performed calculations using motor-assisted mechanical adding machines. Others used mathematical tables or slide rules -- instruments with adjustable, graduated scales that depend on the type you have, can handle everything from trigonometry to multiplication Source: Britannica: Slide Rule[source: Britannica: Slide Rules].
Then, in the 1960s, advancements in integrated circuitry led directly to the invention of electronic calculators but the early versions of the gadgets -- designed by companies like Sharp as well as Texas Instruments -- looked far from the type you carry around today in your briefcase or backpack.
To know more about the evolution of today's electronic calculator and discover how the growing demand of consumers of smaller-sized calculators lead to creation of microchips , which power the devices 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
Many electronics companies and inventors may claim a first when it comes to the creation of an electronic calculator. Japanese business Sharp is believed to have developed the pioneering computer-based desktop calculator called the CS-10A in 1964. This model resembled a money register and cost equal to a mid-sized car [sources: Lewis, Sharp]. As of 1967, Texas Instruments developed what is now referred to as the world's first portable, handheld calculator that was a device capable of performing addition or subtraction as well as multiplication, division -- as part of a project the company dubbed "Cal Tech" [sources: Courier Mail, Texas Instruments[sources: Courier Mail, Texas Instruments].
Utilizing "Cal Tech" technology, Canon developed an initial handheld calculator to be used in commercial settings, that was released in 1970, with the price of $400 [source: Texas Instruments]. The next few years became an ongoing race between manufacturers to develop calculators that were smaller, more accessible and less costly. In 1972, British designer Sir Clive Sinclair introduced the Sinclair Executive, which is widely regarded as the world's first pocket calculator (sources: The Press, Western Daily Pressand Western Daily Press. Its thickness was that of a pack of cigarettes.
These continuous advances on calculator technology were created by the advent of the single chip microprocessor in the late 1960s. Before this time engineers had built the computing "brains" of calculators (and computers) that comprised multiple chips or other components. Basically, a single-chip microprocessor allows an entire central processing unit (CPU) to exist on a single silicon microchip. (To learn more about this technology, check out How Microprocessors function.)
Intel Corp. created the first microprocessor available for sale on the market -- known as the Intel 4004 -- in 1971 (sources: Behar, Intel]. It was capable of doing basic arithmetic with 4 bits of information at a time. But Intel's co-founder, Gordon Moore, predicted that the capabilities of one chip would double around twice every 2 years. The theory is called "Moore's Law," and as of today, it is to be true. Not only did calculators get smaller as they grew older, they were also able of more advanced apps (source: Intel].
Today, in addition to contemporary versions of the traditional pocket calculator advanced graphing and scientific calculators are available and used by both students and professionals such as engineers. Many of them are based on widely used computer languages and are programmed to meet the user's needs. In fact the time that Texas Instruments introduced its TI-92 model in 1995, it was described as the model "a calculator with the power of a computer lab" [source: Texas Instruments]. Many scientific and graphing calculators could be able of some of these functions:
- It is a transition from the indistinto base-ten to other systems of number (hexadecimal counting, which is it a basis-16-based system)
- Using scientific notation to calculate very large amounts
- Using logarithms and trigonometric functions directly
- Working with constants such pi and e at a much higher degree of accuracy
- Using complex numbers using fractions, complex formulas and even fractions
- Solving equations
- Statistic analysis
- Making use of larger displays to create graphs and formulas
Continue reading to in the following section, to learn details about circuit boards, solar cells as well as other components that comprise the calculator.
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