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The Abacus
The first known tool used to help arithmetic calculations was the Abacus, created by Sumerians and Egyptians before 2000 BC. -
The Mechanical Calculator
The invention of the mechanical calculator by Blaise Pascal, a device that would eventually perform all four arithmetic operations without relying on human intelligence. The calculator could add and subtract two numbers directly and multiply and divide by repetition -
The Arithmometer
The Arithmometer was invented in 1820 as a four-operation mechanical calculator. It was as an adding machine and became the first commercially successful unit; with thousands being sold. -
The Electronic Calculator
The first mainframe computers appeared in the 1940s and 1950s. This technology was to provide a stepping stone to the development of electronic calculators. The Casio Computer Company, released the Model 14-A calculator in 1957, which was the world's first all-electric calculator. It did not use electronic logic but was based on relay technology, and was built into a desk. -
The Curta Calculator
The Curta calculator was developed in 1948 and was costly but became popular for its portability. This mechanical hand-held device could do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The Curta remains a popular collectable item. -
The Pocket Calculator
By 1970, a calculator could be made using just a few chips of low power consumption that used batteries. The first portable calculators appeared in Japan in 1970, and were soon marketed around the world. The Pocketronic has no traditional display; numerical output is on thermal paper tape. The information on the history of the pocket calculator can be found at : http://www.vintagecalculators.com/html/history_of_electronic_calculat.html -
Programming and Graphic Calculator
The first calculator capable of symbolic computation was the HP-28C, released in 1987. It was able to, solve quadratic equations symbolically. The first graphing calculator was the Casio FX-7000G released in 1985. To learn the basic functions watch the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlmXhNaubBo -
Cell Phone Calculators
As cell phones started to develop into smartphones apps were developed to do calculations. The one issue that we never had was a calculator that showed the step by step process to solve certain problems.
