A Brief History Of The Calculator?

Answer 1

The calculator has been developed from humble beginnings to that of the electronic calculators that we see today, in addition to the calculator applications that we find on our mobile phones and computers.

The original concept for a calculator was patented by Thomas De Colmar in 1820 and named the Arithmometer. It could add, subtract and divide, with some additional adjustments. Although there were other similar inventions during this the period, Colmar’s idea was by far the most successful and reliable of all and was in production for around 90 years here after.

During 1822, Charles Babbage invented the first mechanical calculator, capable of storing several numbers and manipulating them separately with up to 31 decimal points. Babbage called this invention the Difference Machine.

During 1942, the miniature Curta Calculator was created. It was developed with the ability to be held in one hand, therefore it was effectively the first idea for the pocket calculator that we see today.

In 1954, the first all-electronic calculators were invented by the Japanese company called Casio. This name is seen on many calculators worldwide today.

By the 1970s, the Japanese had developed the pocket calculator using chips allowing calculators to be portable via rechargeable batteries. This was the basis for many of the calculators that we see today.

Following this revelation in technology, the pocket calculator became very expensive and was seen as more of a luxury item than a necessity. Though as more and more companies realized there was money to be made in the industry of building pocket calculators, the price was seen to drop dramatically over the following five years until the basic pocket calculator could be bought for a few dollars, which did not break the bank.

From this point onwards, calculators became more complex and could use symbols that we commonly see on calculators today. Calculators then became available on such things as our mobile phones and computers as applications, thus becoming accessible to almost everyone.

Calculators have revolutionised the way that we live today. The productivity of people who work on accounts and in shops has been able to increase tenfold and allows anyone to perform huge mathematical equations with ease and retrieve a 100 percent accurate answer.