Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Invention

Electronic Calculator

Computer Engineering

An electronic calculator is a portable device built to perform calculations ranging from basic arithmetic to more advanced mathematics, developed from the first solid-state electronic calculators of the early 1960s. Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments built the first handheld prototype, called Cal Tech, in 1967, and Japan's first commercial portable calculators, including the Sanyo ICC-0081, the Canon Pocketronic, and the Sharp QT-8B, appeared in 1970. The Busicom LE-120A, marketed as the HANDY in early 1971, was the first calculator small enough for a pocket and the first built around a single integrated circuit with an LED display, developed alongside Intel's 4004 microprocessor which Intel had built for Busicom. Hewlett-Packard's HP-35, launched in 1972 as the first scientific pocket calculator, and falling prices through the 1970s made calculators affordable to most people before the dedicated device's market was later absorbed by smartphones. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Sources
Calculator (Wikipedia)
In Group: Early and Historical Computing Machines, lead states the first solid state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960sView the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.