Calculator
How Calculators Work
There might have been a time when the most complex calculations people needed to conduct could have been performed on their fingers and toes. However, nowadays, it's all but impossible for a lot of people to imagine doing anything that requires numbers- from math homework to tax returns to tipping servers at restaurants without the assistance of at least a basic pocket calculator. In fact, electronic calculators are so ubiquitous that it's difficult to believe that they weren't widespread until the latter half of the 20 th century.
Before the advent of the current calculator prior to the invention of the modern calculator, there were other instruments for computation. The abacus is an example. It is an ancestor of today's calculator. Perhaps it is of Babylonian origin early abaci can be believed to have been boards, where the positions of counters represented numbers. However, the modern abacus -- that many people still use throughout China, Japan and the Middle East -- works by moving beads through wires that are strung across a frame (source: Britannica: Abacus].
Through the course of the last century, people carried out computations using motor-assisted adding machines, while others utilized mathematical tables and slide rulers devices that have graduated, movable scales that are, based on the kind you're using, will handle anything from multiplication to trigonometry (source: Britannica: Slide Rule[source: Britannica: Slide Rules].
Finally, in the 1960s, advances in integrated circuitry led directly to the creation of electronic calculators but the early versions of the gadgets -- designed by companies like Sharp and Texas Instruments -- looked very little like the one you may be carrying around today in your briefcase or backpack.
For more information about the advancements of the electronic calculator and learn the way that consumer demand in smaller computers led to creation of microchips , which power the appliances we use every all day -- continue 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 have claimed a first in the invention of the electronic calculator. Japanese manufacturer Sharp is believed to have invented the very first desktop calculator called the CS-10A in 1964. This model resembled a cash register, and was about half the price of a mid-sized vehicle (sources: Lewis, Sharp]. As of 1967, Texas Instruments developed what is referred to as the first portable, handheld calculator which was gadget that could perform subtraction as well as subtraction, multiplication, and division -- in a development that was nicknamed by the company "Cal Tech" [sources: Courier Mail, Texas Instruments[sources: Courier Mail, Texas instruments].
Utilizing "Cal Tech" technology, Canon created its first hand-held calculator for commercial use which was launched in the year 1970 with the cost that was $400. [source: Texas Instruments]. The following years were an ongoing race between manufacturers to develop calculators that were smaller, easier to use and more affordable. It was in 1972 that British designer Sir Clive Sinclair introduced the Sinclair Executive, which is thought by many to be the first pocket calculator [sources: The Press, Western Daily Press]. Its thickness was comparable to cigarettes in a pack.
These constant advances on calculator technology were result of the development of the single chip microprocessor in the late 1960s. Before this time engineers designed the computing "brains" of calculators (and computers) using multiple chips or other components. A single-chip microprocessor permits a complete central processing unit (CPU) to exist on a single silicon microchip. (To find out more about this technology, check out the 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 performing basic arithmetic, and four bits of information at a time. However, Intel's co-founder, Gordon Moore, predicted that the capacity of an individual chip would increase around every two years. This is known as "Moore's Law," and to this day, it remains for the moment. While calculators did get smaller with time, but they became capable of increasingly sophisticated applications *Source: Intel].
Today, aside from modern versions of the classic pocket calculator advanced graphing and scientific calculators are in use by both students and professionals like engineers. They are often based on well-known computer language and are programmed to meet the requirements of the user. In fact when Texas Instruments introduced its TI-92 model in 1995, they described"TI-92 "a calculator with the power of a computer lab" [source: Texas Instruments]. Numerous graphing and scientific calculators can perform certain of these tasks:
- Switching from the usual base-ten to other systems of number (hexadecimal counting, which is one of the bases-16 systems)
- Using scientific notation to calculate huge numbers
- Using logarithms and trigonometric functions directly
- Working with constants such pi and e, you can achieve a much higher degree of precision
- Using complex numbers as well as formulas, fractions and other complex numbers
- Solving equations
- Analysis of statistics
- Using larger displays to calculate graphs and formulas
Check out this section and learn more about solar cells, circuit boards, as well as other parts that make up the calculator.
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