How a Calculator Calculates
How Calculators Work
There was some time when the most complicated calculations one needed to do could be completed with the help of their fingers and toes. Nowadays, it's all but impossible for many people to imagine doing anything involving numbers -including math assignments and tax return filings to tipping server in restaurants -- without at the very least a pocket calculator. In fact, electronic calculators are so widespread now that it's hard to believe they weren't widespread until the latter half of the 20 century. century.
Before the advent of the current calculator, people used some other devices for computation. The abacus, for example, is a precursor to the calculator. Probably originally of Babylonian origin early abaci were believed to be boards, where the positions of counters was used to represent numbers. But the modern abacus -- that are still in use across China, Japan and the Middle East -- works by moving beads on wires that are strung across a frame from Britannica: Abacus].
Through the course of the last century, some people conducted calculations with motor-assisted mechanical addition machines, while others utilized mathematical tables or slide rulers devices that have adjustable, graduated scales that depend on the type you're using, can do anything from trigonometry to multiplication The source is Britannica: Slide Rule[source: Britannica: Slide Rule].
Finally, in the 1960s, advances in integrated circuitry led to the creation of electronic calculators, however, the first versions of these devices -- created by companies like Sharp and Texas Instruments -- looked quite different from the ones you carry around today in your briefcase or backpack.
To know more about the advancements of the electronic calculator and discover how the demands of consumers in smaller computers led the invention of microchips which power our appliances every day -- read on.
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 as well as inventors may claim to have a first in the invention of the electronic calculator. Japanese company Sharp is said to have created the premier computer-based desktop calculator called the CS-10A in 1964. The model was akin to a cash register and cost twice the cost of a mid-sized automobile (sources: Lewis, Sharp]. It was in 1967 that Texas Instruments developed what is referred to as the first portable, handheld calculator (a device that could calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division -- in a venture that was dubbed by the company "Cal Tech" [sources: Courier Mail, Texas Instruments].
Utilizing "Cal Tech" technology, Canon developed its first hand-held calculator intended for use in the commercial market, which debuted in 1970 with a price tag of $400 [source: Texas Instruments]. The subsequent years turned into an up-and-down battle between makers to make calculators smaller, more accessible and less expensive. In 1972, British creator 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 size was comparable to cigarettes in a pack.
These continuous advances of calculator technology were created by the advent of the single chip microprocessor in the late 1960s. Before this time engineers constructed the computing "brains" of calculators (and computers) with multiple chips or other components. The basic concept behind a single chip microprocessor is that it lets a complete central processing unit (CPU) to exist within a silicon microchip. (To find out more about this technique, see the article How Microprocessors operate.)
Intel Corp. created the first single-chip microprocessor commercially available -- the Intel 4004 -- in 1971 (sources: Behar, Intel]. It was able of performing basic arithmetic, 4 bits of information per second. However, Intel's cofounder, Gordon Moore, predicted that the capabilities of one chip would double approximately 2 times per year. This is known as "Moore's Law," and to this day, it remains as true. In addition to becoming smaller with time, but they became capable of increasingly advanced apps (source: Intel].
Today, in addition modern versions of the classic pocket calculator advanced scientific and graphing calculators are in use by professionals as well as students such as engineers. They are often based on well-known computer language and are programmable to what the user's requirements. In fact the time that Texas Instruments introduced its TI-92 model in 1995, they called it "a calculator with the power of a computer lab" [source: Texas Instruments]. A variety of graphing and scientific calculators could be able of certain of these tasks:
- Moving from the base-ten system to other systems of number (hexadecimal counting, which is one of the bases-16 systems)
- Utilizing scientific notation in order to calculate huge numbers
- Utilizing trigonometric and logarithm functions directly
- Utilizing constants like pi and e at an even higher level of precision
- Utilizing complicated numbers including fractions, formulas and equations
- Solving equations
- Analyzing statistics
- Using larger displays to calculate graphs and formulas
Go to our next chapter to find out what you need to know about solar cells and circuit boards as well as other parts that make up a calculator.
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