The History of Calculators

!±8± The History of Calculators

There was a time in history when simple arithmetic was compulsory in school. As technology emerged new discoveries quickly transformed the way we used traditional methods. One of these great inventions was the calculator. Modern calculators differ from old counting instruments. Numerical devices such as the abaci and comptometers were a manual process that was full of errors and quite tedious. Conversely modern calculators are digital or solar powered and don't require much manual labor. They are very inexpensive and come in many sizes and models. Listed below are seven lucky facts about calculators you should know:

In Education
1. There was plenty resistance to using calculators in school because it was thought that it would take away from their basic arithmetic skills.
2. Some scientific research indicates that insufficient guidance in the use of calculators can hold back mathematical thinking that pupils learn. On the flip side, others dispute that mathematical devices can cause fundamental mathematical skills to weaken or that such use can prevent learning of key mathematical concepts.

History: The Early Days
3. The first type of calculating instrument that was implanted was the Abacus. They were made out of a square shaped wooden piece with beads sliding up and down on wires. The Abacus is still used by merchants and fishermen in Africa and Asia.
4. The first recorded analog computer was in 150 BC. It was called the Antikythera mechanism and the astrolabe. These computation devices were made in Greece.

17th to 19th century
5. Wilhelm Schickard a German mathematician made the first digital calculator in 1623. He is dubbed the father of the computing era. His design used techniques that a clock used so addition devices were originally called computing clocks.
6. These gadgets were later improved upon by Charles Babbage (rhymes with cabbage) when he invented the mechanical calculator. It was called the difference engine because it could manipulate seven numbers of thirty-one.

Present
7. In the early eighties computing gadgets were a luxury item costing about two weeks pay. Prices dropped as cost of construction material for these devices became less expensive and accessible.
Today it is difficult for manufacturers to make a good profit of selling calculators solely. Consequently companies have competed to find unique strategies to sell computing devices. You can now purchase them as a dual items on mouse pads, pens, rulers and almost anything you can think of.