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Calculating Firsts: A Visual History of

Calculators

Take a look at how calculating machines have evolved overthe years.

There once was a time when written numbers did not exist. Man had only his fingers and toes touse as counting devicesand counting sheep and crops using fingers, toes, rocks and shells willget you only so far.

So human civilization invented the abacus, which theComputer History Museumsuggests isthe oldest continuously used calculating tool aside from fingers.

Though still in use in today, the abacus was merely the beginning of mankinds interest incalculating machines, which have evolved radically over the years. Here we share with you avisual history of some notable calculating firsts.

1623: First Adding Machine

Photo Credit:History-Computer

Device Name:Calculating Clock

Inventor:Wilhelm Schickard

A Brief History:According to theHistory of Computers website,Wilhelm Schickard wascredited with inventing the first adding machine after Dr. Franz Hammer, a biographer ofJohannes Kepler, claimed that drawings of a calculating clock had been discovered in two letterswritten by Schickard to Johannes Kepler in 1623 and 1624. Prior to this discovery, Blaise Pascal,who developed the Pascaline adding machine in 1642, was regarded as the inventor of the firstadding machine.

Schickards Calculating Clock is composed of a multiplying device, a mechanism forrecording intermediate results, and a 6-digit decimal adding device.

Interesting Fact:The letters Schickard wrote Kepler were written in Latin, the internationallanguage of science and scholarship in Central and Western Europe until the 17th century.

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1773: First Functional Calculator

Photo Credit:History-Computer

Device Name:n/a

Inventor:Philip Matthus Hahn

A Brief History:Hahn aspired to design a machine that would help him calculate the parametersof the clocks and planetariums he enjoyed making, according to theHistory of Computerswebsite.He based his calculator on theStepped Reckonercalculating machine that was

developed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in 1672. Hahns calculator featured a set of twelvedrums in a circular arrangement that could be activated by a crank located in the axis of thedrums.

Interesting Fact:Although the first working copy of the device was ready in 1773, thecalculator was not demonstrated until 1778 because of Hahns difficulty with the reliability ofmachines tens-carrying mechanism.

1820: First Commercially Produced Mechanical Calculator

Photo Credit:Cornell

Device Name:Arithmometer

Inventor:Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar

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A Brief History:The arithmometer was the first commercially successful calculating machine tocomplete all four basic operationsaddition, subtraction, multiplication and divisionaccording toIBM.Like Hahn, Thomas also based his calculator on the stepped drum mechanismof Leibniz. The machine featured a second result display for subtraction and division as well as amultiplication gear.

Interesting Fact:The production debut of the Arithmometer in 1851launched the mechanicalcalculator industry.The Arithmometer was the only type of mechanical calculatorcommercialized from 1878 to 1887 worldwide, and was still in use up to World War I.

1954: First All-Transistor Calculator

Photo Credit:IBM

Device Name:IBM 608

Inventor:IBM

A Brief History:The IBM 608 was the first calculating machine to use solid-state transistorsinstead of vacuum tubes. The machine was housed in several large cabinets. According to thecompanys website,customers could purchase the machine for $83, 210 (or rent it for $1,760 a

month). The machines main memory could store 40 nine-digit numbers and could perform4,500 additions per second, among other operations.

Interesting Fact:The IBM 608 contained more than 3,000 germanium transistors.

1961: First All-Electronic Desktop Calculator

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Photo Credit:Anita-Calculators

Device Name:ANITA MK-8

Inventor:Bell Punch

A Brief History:In 1956, theBell Punch Co.of Great Britain set out to diversify frommanufacturing ticket punches by producing a commercial electronic desktop calculatorcodenamed the ANITA. According to theVintage Calculators Web Museum,the vacuum tubebased calculator was released in 1961 under the name ANITA MK-8. The machine featuredapproximately 170 cold cathode vacuum tubes, a Dekatron decade counter tube and Numicatordisplay/indicator tubes.

Interesting Fact:The acronym ANITA was intended only for internal use during thedevelopment of the machine, but the name was so ingrained by the time the calculator was readyfor production that the company stuck with it. The acronym has been said to stand for A New

Inspiration to Accounting or A New Inspiration to Arithmetic, but rumor has it that its alsothe name of the designers wife.

1967: First Handheld Calculator

Photo Credit:Heinz Nixdorf Forum

Device Name:Cal Tech

Inventor:Texas Instruments (TI)

A Brief History:According to theTexas Instruments website,Cal Tech was the codenameused for the device during its development, which was released commercially in 1970. The 45-ounce calculator featured a small keyboard with 18 keys and a visual output that displayed up to12 decimal digits.

Interesting Fact:The original 1967 prototype of the device can be found in the SmithsonianInstitutionsNational Museum of American History.

1971: First Truly Pocket-Sized Electronic Calculator to use LED Display

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Photo Credit:Computer History

Device Name:Busicom LE-120A HANDY

Inventor:Busicom

A Brief History:The Busicom LE-120A, known as the HANDY, is the first handheld calculatorto use a calculator on a chip integrated circuit. According to theVintage Calculators WebMuseum,the calculator featured a 12-digit display in red LED and cost $395 when it first wenton sale in January 1971. Because the calculator was so expensive, it came with a wrist strapattached at its base to protect it from being dropped.

Interesting Fact:According to theVintage Calculators Web Museum,Aristotle Onassis, theGreek shipping magnate, gave the expensive calculators as gifts to friends.

1974: First Handheld Programmable Calculator

Photo Credit:HP Museum

Device Name:HP-65

Inventor:Hewlett-Packard

A Brief History:First introduced byHewlett-Packardas a Personal Computer, the calculatorallowed users to either buy programs on pre-programmed cards or write programs up to 100 lineslong and record them on blank cards. The device featured user-definable keys (with 35 keyscontrolling more than 80 operations) and was the first HP pocket calculator with baseconversions (octal and decimal). The calculator cost $795 when it launched in 1974. In 1975,

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during the first joint U.S.-Soviet space flight, it became the first handheld calculator in outerspace.

Interesting Fact:Bill Hewlett specified in the design requirements that the calculator had to fitin his shirt pocketone reason for the machines taperedshape.

1985: First Graphing Calculator

Photo Credit: Datamath

Device Name:Casio fx-7000G

Inventor:Casio

A Brief History:The Casio fx-7000G was developed with 422 bytes of memory and could storeup to ten programs in 10 program slots, according to theComputing History website.It offered82 scientific functions, and its display could toggle between 8 lines of 16 characters each or a

64x96 dot matrix graphical display.

Interesting Fact:Todays graphing calculators like the TI-83 kept the fx-7000Gs displayformat.

2003: First Graphing Calculator with Touch Functionality

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Photo Credit:Gumtree

Device Name:Sharp EL-9650

Inventor:Sharp

A Brief History:When most people think of touch devices, they think of using their fingers, butSharp broke the mold by debuting the first stylus-based graphing calculator, according toTechPowered Math.Sharp, unfortunately, didnt find much success with the model.

Interesting Fact:The EL-9650 had aslideshow functionalitythat allowed teachers to walkthrough pre-programmed lessons and formulas on the calculator.

2010: First Color Graphing Calculator

Photo Credit:Casio

Device Name:Casio PRIZM

Inventor:Casio

A Brief History:While the world of mobile devices quickly moved to full-color screens in theearly 2000s, it took a while for graphing calculators to catch up. Casios PRIZM calculator, with

its advanced, 216x384 resolution, full-color display, debuted in late 2010. Texas Instrumentssoon followed with its own color calculator, theTI-NSpire Cx,in early 2011. Students couldfinally bid good-bye to the monochrome, low-pixel displays of years past.

Interesting Fact:The PRIZM allows students to create graphs over images, which helps themunderstand the real-world applications of the work theyre doing on their graphing calculators.

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