An electronic pocket calculator with a liquid-crystal display (LCD) seven-segment

display, that can perform arithmetic operations

A modern scientific calculator with a dot matrix LCD

An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform
calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.

The first solid state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s.

The pocket sized devices became available in the 1970s, especially after the first
microprocessor, the Intel 4004, developed by Intel for the Japanese calculator
company Busicom. They later became used commonly within the petroleum industry (oil
and gas).

Modern electronic calculators vary: from cheap, give-away, credit-card-sized models

to sturdy desktop models with built-in printers. They became popular in the mid-
1970s (as integrated circuits made their size and cost small). By the end of that
decade, calculator prices had reduced to a point where a basic calculator was
affordable to most and they became common in schools.

Computer operating systems as far back as early Unix have included interactive
calculator programs such as dc and hoc, and calculator functions are included in
almost all personal digital assistant (PDA) type devices (save a few dedicated
address book and dictionary devices).

In addition to general purpose calculators, there are those designed for specific
markets. For example, there are scientific calculators which include trigonometric
and statistical calculations. Some calculators even have the ability to do computer
algebra. Graphing calculators can be used to graph functions defined on the real
line, or higher-dimensional Euclidean space. As of 2016, basic calculators cost
little, but the scientific and graphing models tend to cost more.

In 1986, calculators still represented an estimated 41% of the world's general-

purpose hardware capacity to compute information. By 2007, this diminished to less
than 0.05%.[1]

Contents
1 Design
1.1 Input
1.2 Display output
1.3 Memory
1.4 Power source
1.5 Key layout
2 Internal workings
2.1 Example
2.1.1 Numeric representation
3 Calculators compared to computers
4 History
4.1 Precursors to the electronic calculator
4.2 Development of electronic calculators
4.3 1970s to mid-1980s
4.3.1 Pocket calculators
4.3.2 Programmable calculators
4.3.3 Technical improvements
4.3.4 Mass market phase
4.4 Mid-1980s to present
5 Use in education
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
Design

Scientific calculator displays of fractions and decimal equivalents

Input
Electronic calculators contain a keyboard with buttons for digits and arithmetical
operations; some even contain "00" and "000" buttons to make larger or smaller
numbers easier to enter. Most basic calculators assign only one digit or operation
on each button; however, in more specific calculators, a button can perform multi-
function working with key combinations.

Display output
Calculators usually have liquid-crystal displays (LCD) as output in place of
historical light-emitting diode (LED) displays and vacuum fluorescent displays
(VFD); details are provided in the section Technical improvements.

Large-sized figures are often used to improve readability; while using decimal
separator (usually a point rather than a comma) instead of or in addition to vulgar
fractions. Various symbols for function commands may also be shown on the display.
Fractions such as ?1/3 are displayed as decimal approximations, for example rounded
to 0.33333333. Also, some fractions (such as ?1/7, which is 0.14285714285714; to 14
significant figures) can be difficult to recognize in decimal form; as a result,
many scientific calculators are able to work in vulgar fractions or mixed numbers.

Memory
Calculators also have the ability to store numbers into computer memory. Basic
calculators usually store only one number at a time; more specific types are able
to store many numbers represented in variables. The variables can also be used for
constructing formulas. Some models have the ability to extend memory capacity to
store more numbers; the extended memory address is termed an array index.

Power source
Power sources of calculators are: batteries, solar cells or mains electricity (for
old models), turning on with a switch or button. Some models even have no turn-off
button but they provide some way to put off (for example, leaving no operation for
a moment, covering solar cell exposure, or closing their lid). Crank-powered
calculators were also common in the early computer era.

Key layout
The following keys are common to most pocket calculators. While the arrangement of
the digits is standard, the positions of other keys vary from model to model; the
illustration is an example.

Usual basic pocket calculator layout

MC MR M- M+
C � % v
7 8 9 �
4 5 6 �
1 2 3 -
0 . = +
MC or CM Memory Clear
MR, RM, or MRC Memory Recall
M- Memory Subtraction
M+ Memory Addition
C or AC All Clear
CE Clear (last) Entry; sometimes called CE/C: a first press clears the last
entry (CE), a second press clears all (C)
� or CHS Toggle positive/negative number aka CHange Sign
% Percent
� Division
� Multiplication
- Subtraction
+ Addition
. Decimal point
v Square root
= Result
Internal workings
In general, a basic electronic calculator consists of the following components:[2]

Power source (mains electricity, battery and/or solar cell)

Keypad (input device) � consists of keys used to input numbers and function
commands (addition, multiplication, square-root, etc.)
Display panel (output device) � displays input numbers, commands and results.
Liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), vacuum fluorescent displays (VFDs), and light-
emitting diode (LED) displays use seven segments to represent each digit in a basic
calculator. Advanced calculators may use dot matrix displays.
A printing calculator, in addition to a display panel, has a printing unit that
prints results in ink onto a roll of paper, using a printing mechanism.
Processor chip (microprocessor or central processing unit).
Processor chip's contents
Unit Function
Scanning (Polling) unit When a calculator is powered on, it scans the keypad
waiting to pick up an electrical signal when a key is pressed.
Encoder unit Converts the numbers and functions into binary code.
X register and Y register They are number stores where numbers are stored
temporarily while doing calculations. All numbers go into the X register first; the
number in the X register is shown on the display.
Flag register The function for the calculation is stored here until the
calculator needs it.
Permanent memory (ROM) The instructions for in-built functions (arithmetic
operations, square roots, percentages, trigonometry, etc.) are stored here in
binary form. These instructions are programs, stored permanently, and cannot be
erased.
User memory (RAM) The store where numbers can be stored by the user. User memory
contents can be changed or erased by the user.
Arithmetic logic unit (ALU) The ALU executes all arithmetic and logic
instructions, and provides the results in binary coded form.
Binary decoder unit Converts binary code into decimal numbers which can be
displayed on the display unit.
Clock rate of a processor chip refers to the frequency at which the central
processing unit (CPU) is running. It is used as an indicator of the processor's
speed, and is measured in clock cycles per second or the SI unit hertz (Hz). For
basic calculators, the speed can vary from a few hundred hertz to the kilohertz
range.

An office calculating machine with a paper printer

Example
A basic explanation as to how calculations are performed in a simple four-function
calculator:

To perform the calculation 25 + 9, one presses keys in the following sequence on

most calculators: 2 5 + 9 =.

When 2 5 is entered, it is picked up by the scanning unit; the number 25 is encoded

and sent to the X register;
Next, when the + key is pressed, the "addition" instruction is also encoded and
sent to the flag or status register;
The second number 9 is encoded and sent to the X register. This "pushes" (shifts)
the first number out into the Y register;
When the = key is pressed, a "message" (signal) from the flag or status register
tells the permanent or non-volatile memory that the operation to be done is
"addition";
The numbers in the X and Y registers are then loaded into the ALU and the
calculation is carried out following instructions from the permanent or non-
volatile memory;
The answer, 34 is sent (shifted) back to the X register. From there, it is
converted by the binary decoder unit into a decimal number (usually binary-coded
decimal), and then shown on the display panel.
Other functions are usually performed using repeated additions or subtractions.

Numeric representation
Main article: Binary-coded decimal
Most pocket calculators do all their calculations in BCD rather than a floating-
point representation. BCD is common in electronic systems where a numeric value is
to be displayed, especially in systems consisting solely of digital logic, and not
containing a microprocessor. By employing BCD, the manipulation of numerical data
for display can be greatly simplified by treating each digit as a separate single
sub-circuit. This matches much more closely the physical reality of display
hardware�a designer might choose to use a series of separate identical seven-
segment displays to build a metering circuit, for example. If the numeric quantity
were stored and manipulated as pure binary, interfacing to such a display would
require complex circuitry. Therefore, in cases where the calculations are
relatively simple, working throughout with BCD can lead to a simpler overall system
than converting to and from binary.

The same argument applies when hardware of this type uses an embedded
microcontroller or other small processor. Often, smaller code results when
representing numbers internally in BCD format, since a conversion from or to binary
representation can be expensive on such limited processors. For these applications,
some small processors feature BCD arithmetic modes, which assist when writing
routines that manipulate BCD quantities.[3][4]

Where calculators have added functions (such as square root, or trigonometric

functions), software algorithms are required to produce high precision results.
Sometimes significant design effort is needed to fit all the desired functions in
the limited memory space available in the calculator chip, with acceptable
calculation time.[5]

Calculators compared to computers

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The fundamental difference between a calculator and computer is that a computer can
be programmed in a way that allows the program to take different branches according
to intermediate results, while calculators are pre-designed with specific functions
(such as addition, multiplication, and logarithms) built in. The distinction is not
clear-cut: some devices classed as programmable calculators have programming
functions, sometimes with support for programming languages (such as RPL or TI-
BASIC).

For instance, instead of a hardware multiplier, a calculator might implement

floating point mathematics with code in read-only memory (ROM), and compute
trigonometric functions with the CORDIC algorithm because CORDIC does not require
much multiplication. Bit serial logic designs are more common in calculators
whereas bit parallel designs dominate general-purpose computers, because a bit
serial design minimizes chip complexity, but takes many more clock cycles. This
distinction blurs with high-end calculators, which use processor chips associated
with computer and embedded systems design, more so the Z80, MC68000, and ARM
architectures, and some custom designs specialized for the calculator market.

History
Precursors to the electronic calculator
Main article: Mechanical calculator
See also: Human computer
The first known tools used to aid arithmetic calculations were: bones (used to
tally items), pebbles, and counting boards, and the abacus, known to have been used
by Sumerians and Egyptians before 2000 BC.[6] Except for the Antikythera mechanism
(an "out of the time" astronomical device), development of computing tools arrived
near the start of the 17th century: the geometric-military compass (by Galileo),
logarithms and Napier bones (by Napier), and the slide rule (by Edmund Gunter).

17th century mechanical calculators

In 1642, the Renaissance saw the invention of the mechanical calculator (by Wilhelm
Schickard[7] and several decades later Blaise Pascal[8]), a device that was at
times somewhat over-promoted as being able to perform all four arithmetic
operations with minimal human intervention.[9] Pascal's Calculator could add and
subtract two numbers directly and thus, if the tedium could be borne, multiply and
divide by repetition. Schickard's machine, constructed several decades earlier,
used a clever set of mechanised multiplication tables to ease the process of
multiplication and division with the adding machine as a means of completing this
operation. (Because they were different inventions with different aims a debate
about whether Pascal or Schickard should be credited as the "inventor" of the
adding machine (or calculating machine) is probably pointless.[10]) Schickard and
Pascal were followed by Gottfried Leibniz who spent forty years designing a four-
operation mechanical calculator, the stepped reckoner, inventing in the process his
leibniz wheel, but who couldn't design a fully operational machine.[11] There were
also five unsuccessful attempts to design a calculating clock in the 17th century.
[12]

The Grant mechanical calculating machine, 1877

The 18th century saw the arrival of some interesting improvements, first by Poleni
with the first fully functional calculating clock and four-operation machine, but
these machines were almost always one of the kind. Luigi Torchi invented the first
direct multiplication machine in 1834: this was also the second key-driven machine
in the world, following that of James White (1822).[13] It was not until the 19th
century and the Industrial Revolution that real developments began to occur.
Although machines capable of performing all four arithmetic functions existed prior
to the 19th century, the refinement of manufacturing and fabrication processes
during the eve of the industrial revolution made large scale production of more
compact and modern units possible. The Arithmometer, invented in 1820 as a four-
operation mechanical calculator, was released to production in 1851 as an adding
machine and became the first commercially successful unit; forty years later, by
1890, about 2,500 arithmometers had been sold[14] plus a few hundreds more from two
arithmometer clone makers (Burkhardt, Germany, 1878 and Layton, UK, 1883) and Felt
and Tarrant, the only other competitor in true commercial production, had sold 100
comptometers.[15]

Patent image of the Clarke graph-based calculator, 1921

It wasn't until 1902 that the familiar push-button user interface was developed,
with the introduction of the Dalton Adding Machine, developed by James L. Dalton in
the United States.

In 1921, Edith Clarke invented the "Clarke calculator", a simple graph-based

calculator for solving line equations involving hyperbolic functions. This allowed
electrical engineers to simplify calculations for inductance and capacitance in
power transmission lines.[16]

The Curta calculator was developed in 1948 and, although costly, became popular for
its portability. This purely mechanical hand-held device could do addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division. By the early 1970s electronic pocket
calculators ended manufacture of mechanical calculators, although the Curta remains
a popular collectable item.

Development of electronic calculators

The first mainframe computers, using firstly vacuum tubes and later transistors in
the logic circuits, appeared in the 1940s and 1950s. This technology was to provide
a stepping stone to the development of electronic calculators.

The Casio Computer Company, in Japan, released the Model 14-A calculator in 1957,
which was the world's first all-electric (relatively) compact calculator. It did
not use electronic logic but was based on relay technology, and was built into a
desk.

Early calculator light-emitting diode (LED) display from the 1970s (USSR)
In October 1961, the world's first all-electronic desktop calculator, the British
Bell Punch/Sumlock Comptometer ANITA (A New Inspiration To Arithmetic/Accounting)
was announced.[17][18] This machine used vacuum tubes, cold-cathode tubes and
Dekatrons in its circuits, with 12 cold-cathode "Nixie" tubes for its display. Two
models were displayed, the Mk VII for continental Europe and the Mk VIII for
Britain and the rest of the world, both for delivery from early 1962. The Mk VII
was a slightly earlier design with a more complicated mode of multiplication, and
was soon dropped in favour of the simpler Mark VIII. The ANITA had a full keyboard,
similar to mechanical comptometers of the time, a feature that was unique to it and
the later Sharp CS-10A among electronic calculators. The ANITA weighed roughly 33
pounds (15 kg) due to its large tube system.[19] Bell Punch had been producing key-
driven mechanical calculators of the comptometer type under the names "Plus" and
"Sumlock", and had realised in the mid-1950s that the future of calculators lay in
electronics. They employed the young graduate Norbert Kitz, who had worked on the
early British Pilot ACE computer project, to lead the development. The ANITA sold
well since it was the only electronic desktop calculator available, and was silent
and quick.

The tube technology of the ANITA was superseded in June 1963 by the U.S.
manufactured Friden EC-130, which had an all-transistor design, a stack of four 13-
digit numbers displayed on a 5-inch (13 cm) cathode ray tube (CRT), and introduced
Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) to the calculator market for a price of $2200, which
was about three times the cost of an electromechanical calculator of the time. Like
Bell Punch, Friden was a manufacturer of mechanical calculators that had decided
that the future lay in electronics. In 1964 more all-transistor electronic
calculators were introduced: Sharp introduced the CS-10A, which weighed 25
kilograms (55 lb) and cost 500,000 yen ($4457.52), and Industria Macchine
Elettroniche of Italy introduced the IME 84, to which several extra keyboard and
display units could be connected so that several people could make use of it (but
apparently not at the same time).

There followed a series of electronic calculator models from these and other
manufacturers, including Canon, Mathatronics, Olivetti, SCM (Smith-Corona-
Marchant), Sony, Toshiba, and Wang. The early calculators used hundreds of
germanium transistors, which were cheaper than silicon transistors, on multiple
circuit boards. Display types used were CRT, cold-cathode Nixie tubes, and filament
lamps. Memory technology was usually based on the delay line memory or the magnetic
core memory, though the Toshiba "Toscal" BC-1411 appears to have used an early form
of dynamic RAM built from discrete components. Already there was a desire for
smaller and less power-hungry machines.

The Olivetti Programma 101 was introduced in late 1965; it was a stored program
machine which could read and write magnetic cards and displayed results on its
built-in printer. Memory, implemented by an acoustic delay line, could be
partitioned between program steps, constants, and data registers. Programming
allowed conditional testing and programs could also be overlaid by reading from
magnetic cards. It is regarded as the first personal computer produced by a company
(that is, a desktop electronic calculating machine programmable by non-specialists
for personal use). The Olivetti Programma 101 won many industrial design awards.

The Bulgarian ELKA 22 from 1965

Another calculator introduced in 1965 was Bulgaria's ELKA 6521,[20][21] developed
by the Central Institute for Calculation Technologies and built at the Elektronika
factory in Sofia. The name derives from ELektronen KAlkulator, and it weighed
around 8 kg (18 lb). It is the first calculator in the world which includes the
square root function. Later that same year were released the ELKA 22 (with a
luminescent display)[20][22][23] and the ELKA 25, with an in-built printer. Several
other models were developed until the first pocket model, the ELKA 101, was
released in 1974. The writing on it was in Roman script, and it was exported to
western countries.[20][24][25]

The Monroe Epic programmable calculator came on the market in 1967. A large,
printing, desk-top unit, with an attached floor-standing logic tower, it could be
programmed to perform many computer-like functions. However, the only branch
instruction was an implied unconditional branch (GOTO) at the end of the operation
stack, returning the program to its starting instruction. Thus, it was not possible
to include any conditional branch (IF-THEN-ELSE) logic. During this era, the
absence of the conditional branch was sometimes used to distinguish a programmable
calculator from a computer.

The first handheld calculator was a prototype called "Cal Tech", whose development
was led by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments in 1967. It could add, multiply,
subtract, and divide, and its output device was a paper tape.[26][27][28][29][30]
[31]

1970s to mid-1980s
The electronic calculators of the mid-1960s were large and heavy desktop machines
due to their use of hundreds of transistors on several circuit boards with a large
power consumption that required an AC power supply. There were great efforts to put
the logic required for a calculator into fewer and fewer integrated circuits
(chips) and calculator electronics was one of the leading edges of semiconductor
development. U.S. semiconductor manufacturers led the world in large scale
integration (LSI) semiconductor development, squeezing more and more functions into
individual integrated circuits. This led to alliances between Japanese calculator
manufacturers and U.S. semiconductor companies: Canon Inc. with Texas Instruments,
Hayakawa Electric (later renamed Sharp Corporation) with North-American Rockwell
Microelectronics (later renamed Rockwell International), Busicom with Mostek and
Intel, and General Instrument with Sanyo.

Pocket calculators
"Pocket calculator" redirects here. For the song, see Computer World.
By 1970, a calculator could be made using just a few chips of low power
consumption, allowing portable models powered from rechargeable batteries. The
first portable calculators appeared in Japan in 1970, and were soon marketed around
the world. These included the Sanyo ICC-0081 "Mini Calculator", the Canon
Pocketronic, and the Sharp QT-8B "micro Compet". The Canon Pocketronic was a
development of the "Cal-Tech" project which had been started at Texas Instruments
in 1965 as a research project to produce a portable calculator. The Pocketronic has
no traditional display; numerical output is on thermal paper tape. As a result of
the "Cal-Tech" project, Texas Instruments was granted master patents on portable
calculators.

Sharp put in great efforts in size and power reduction and introduced in January
1971 the Sharp EL-8, also marketed as the Facit 1111, which was close to being a
pocket calculator. It weighed 1.59 pounds (721 grams), had a vacuum fluorescent
display, rechargeable NiCad batteries, and initially sold for US $395.

However, the efforts in integrated circuit development culminated in the

introduction in early 1971 of the first "calculator on a chip", the MK6010 by
Mostek,[32] followed by Texas Instruments later in the year. Although these early
hand-held calculators were very costly, these advances in electronics, together
with developments in display technology (such as the vacuum fluorescent display,
LED, and LCD), led within a few years to the cheap pocket calculator available to
all.

In 1971 Pico Electronics.[33] and General Instrument also introduced their first
collaboration in ICs, a full single chip calculator IC for the Monroe Royal Digital
III calculator. Pico was a spinout by five GI design engineers whose vision was to
create single chip calculator ICs. Pico and GI went on to have significant success
in the burgeoning handheld calculator market.

The first truly pocket-sized electronic calculator was the Busicom LE-120A "HANDY",
which was marketed early in 1971.[34] Made in Japan, this was also the first
calculator to use an LED display, the first hand-held calculator to use a single
integrated circuit (then proclaimed as a "calculator on a chip"), the Mostek
MK6010, and the first electronic calculator to run off replaceable batteries. Using
four AA-size cells the LE-120A measures 4.9 by 2.8 by 0.9 inches (124 mm � 71 mm �
23 mm).

The first European-made pocket-sized calculator, DB 800[35][36] is made in May 1971

by Digitron in Buje, Croatia (former Yugoslavia) with four functions and an eight-
digit display and special characters for a negative number and a warning that the
calculation has too many digits to display.

The first American-made pocket-sized calculator, the Bowmar 901B (popularly termed
The Bowmar Brain), measuring 5.2 by 3.0 by 1.5 inches (132 mm � 76 mm � 38 mm),
came out in the Autumn of 1971, with four functions and an eight-digit red LED
display, for $240, while in August 1972 the four-function Sinclair Executive became
the first slimline pocket calculator measuring 5.4 by 2.2 by 0.35 inches (137.2 mm
� 55.9 mm � 8.9 mm) and weighing 2.5 ounces (71 g). It retailed for around �79
($101.28). By the end of the decade, similar calculators were priced less than �5
($6.41).

The first Soviet Union made pocket-sized calculator, the Elektronika B3-04 was
developed by the end of 1973 and sold at the start of 1974.

One of the first low-cost calculators was the Sinclair Cambridge, launched in
August 1973. It retailed for �29.95 ($38.4), or �5 ($6.41) less in kit form. The
Sinclair calculators were successful because they were far cheaper than the
competition; however, their design led to slow and inaccurate computations of
transcendental functions.[37]

Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard (HP) had been developing a pocket calculator. Launched

in early 1972, it was unlike the other basic four-function pocket calculators then
available in that it was the first pocket calculator with scientific functions that
could replace a slide rule. The $395 HP-35, along with nearly all later HP
engineering calculators, used reverse Polish notation (RPN), also called postfix
notation. A calculation like "8 plus 5" is, using RPN, performed by pressing 8,
Enter?, 5, and +; instead of the algebraic infix notation: 8, +, 5, =. It had 35
buttons and was based on Mostek Mk6020 chip.

The first Soviet scientific pocket-sized calculator the "B3-18" was completed by
the end of 1975.

In 1973, Texas Instruments (TI) introduced the SR-10, (SR signifying slide rule) an
algebraic entry pocket calculator using scientific notation for $150. Shortly after
the SR-11 featured an added key for entering Pi (p). It was followed the next year
by the SR-50 which added log and trig functions to compete with the HP-35, and in
1977 the mass-marketed TI-30 line which is still produced.

In 1978 a new company, Calculated Industries arose which focused on specialized

markets. Their first calculator, the Loan Arranger[38] (1978) was a pocket
calculator marketed to the Real Estate industry with preprogrammed functions to
simplify the process of calculating payments and future values. In 1985, CI
launched a calculator for the construction industry called the Construction
Master[39] which came preprogrammed with common construction calculations (such as
angles, stairs, roofing math, pitch, rise, run, and feet-inch fraction
conversions). This would be the first in a line of construction related
calculators.

Adler 81S pocket calculator with vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) from the mid-
1970s.

The Casio CM-602 Mini electronic calculator provided basic functions in the 1970s.

The 1972 Sinclair Executive pocket calculator.

The HP-35, the world's first scientific pocket calculator by Hewlett Packard
(1972).

Programmable calculators
Main article: Programmable calculator

The HP-65, the first programmable pocket calculator (1974)

The first desktop programmable calculators were produced in the mid-1960s by
Mathatronics and Casio (AL-1000). These machines were very heavy and costly. The
first programmable pocket calculator was the HP-65, in 1974; it had a capacity of
100 instructions, and could store and retrieve programs with a built-in magnetic
card reader. Two years later the HP-25C introduced continuous memory, i.e.,
programs and data were retained in CMOS memory during power-off. In 1979, HP
released the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable calculator, the HP-41C.
It could be expanded with random access memory (RAM, for memory) and read-only
memory (ROM, for software) modules, and peripherals like bar code readers,
microcassette and floppy disk drives, paper-roll thermal printers, and
miscellaneous communication interfaces (RS-232, HP-IL, HP-IB).

The first Soviet programmable desktop calculator ISKRA 123, powered by the power
grid, was released at the start of the 1970s. The first Soviet pocket battery-
powered programmable calculator, Elektronika B3-21, was developed by the end of
1976 and released at the start of 1977.[40] The successor of B3-21, the Elektronika
B3-34 wasn't backward compatible with B3-21, even if it kept the reverse Polish
notation (RPN). Thus B3-34 defined a new command set, which later was used in a
series of later programmable Soviet calculators. Despite very limited abilities (98
bytes of instruction memory and about 19 stack and addressable registers), people
managed to write all kinds of programs for them, including adventure games and
libraries of calculus-related functions for engineers. Hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of programs were written for these machines, from practical scientific and business
software, which were used in real-life offices and labs, to fun games for children.
The Elektronika MK-52 calculator (using the extended B3-34 command set, and
featuring internal EEPROM memory for storing programs and external interface for
EEPROM cards and other periphery) was used in Soviet spacecraft program (for Soyuz
TM-7 flight) as a backup of the board computer.

This series of calculators was also noted for a large number of highly counter-
intuitive mysterious undocumented features, somewhat similar to "synthetic
programming" of the American HP-41, which were exploited by applying normal
arithmetic operations to error messages, jumping to nonexistent addresses and other
methods. A number of respected monthly publications, including the popular science
magazine Nauka i Zhizn (????? ? ?????, Science and Life), featured special columns,
dedicated to optimization methods for calculator programmers and updates on
undocumented features for hackers, which grew into a whole esoteric science with
many branches, named "yeggogology" ("???????????"). The error messages on those
calculators appear as a Russian word "YEGGOG" ("?????") which, unsurprisingly, is
translated to "Error".

A similar hacker culture in the USA revolved around the HP-41, which was also noted
for a large number of undocumented features and was much more powerful than B3-34.

Technical improvements

A calculator which runs on solar and battery power

Through the 1970s the hand-held electronic calculator underwent rapid development.
The red LED and blue/green vacuum fluorescent displays consumed a lot of power and
the calculators either had a short battery life (often measured in hours, so
rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries were common) or were large so that they could
take larger, higher capacity batteries. In the early 1970s liquid-crystal displays
(LCDs) were in their infancy and there was a great deal of concern that they only
had a short operating lifetime. Busicom introduced the Busicom LE-120A "HANDY"
calculator, the first pocket-sized calculator and the first with an LED display,
and announced the Busicom LC with LCD. However, there were problems with this
display and the calculator never went on sale. The first successful calculators
with LCDs were manufactured by Rockwell International and sold from 1972 by other
companies under such names as: Dataking LC-800, Harden DT/12, Ibico 086, Lloyds 40,
Lloyds 100, Prismatic 500 (a.k.a. P500), Rapid Data Rapidman 1208LC. The LCDs were
an early form using the Dynamic Scattering Mode DSM with the numbers appearing as
bright against a dark background. To present a high-contrast display these models
illuminated the LCD using a filament lamp and solid plastic light guide, which
negated the low power consumption of the display. These models appear to have been
sold only for a year or two.
A more successful series of calculators using a reflective DSM-LCD was launched in
1972 by Sharp Inc with the Sharp EL-805, which was a slim pocket calculator. This,
and another few similar models, used Sharp's Calculator On Substrate (COS)
technology. An extension of one glass plate needed for the liquid crystal display
was used as a substrate to mount the needed chips based on a new hybrid technology.
The COS technology may have been too costly since it was only used in a few models
before Sharp reverted to conventional circuit boards.

Credit-card-sized, solar-powered calculator by Braun (1987)

In the mid-1970s the first calculators appeared with field-effect, twisted nematic
(TN) LCDs with dark numerals against a grey background, though the early ones often
had a yellow filter over them to cut out damaging ultraviolet rays. The advantage
of LCDs is that they are passive light modulators reflecting light, which require
much less power than light-emitting displays such as LEDs or VFDs. This led the way
to the first credit-card-sized calculators, such as the Casio Mini Card LC-78 of
1978, which could run for months of normal use on button cells.

There were also improvements to the electronics inside the calculators. All of the
logic functions of a calculator had been squeezed into the first "calculator on a
chip" integrated circuits (ICs) in 1971, but this was leading edge technology of
the time and yields were low and costs were high. Many calculators continued to use
two or more ICs, especially the scientific and the programmable ones, into the late
1970s.

The power consumption of the integrated circuits was also reduced, especially with
the introduction of CMOS technology. Appearing in the Sharp "EL-801" in 1972, the
transistors in the logic cells of CMOS ICs only used any appreciable power when
they changed state. The LED and VFD displays often required added driver
transistors or ICs, whereas the LCDs were more amenable to being driven directly by
the calculator IC itself.

With this low power consumption came the possibility of using solar cells as the
power source, realised around 1978 by calculators such as the Royal Solar 1, Sharp
EL-8026, and Teal Photon.

The interior of a Casio fx-20 scientific calculator from the mid-1970s, using a
VFD. The processor integrated circuit (IC) is made by NEC. Discrete electronic
components like capacitors and resistors and the IC are mounted on a printed
circuit board (PCB). This calculator uses a battery pack as a power source.

The processor chip (integrated circuit package) inside a 1981 Sharp pocket
calculator, marked SC6762 1�H. An LCD is directly under the chip. This was a PCB-
less design. No discrete components are used. The battery compartment at the top
can hold two button cells.

Inside a Casio scientific calculator from the mid-1990s, showing the processor chip
(small square, top-middle, left), keypad contacts, right (with matching contacts on
the left), the back of the LCD (top, marked 4L102E), battery compartment, and other
components. The solar cell assembly is under the chip.

The interior of a newer (ca. 2000) pocket calculator. It uses a button battery in
combination with a solar cell. The processor is a "Chip on Board" type, covered
with dark epoxy.

Mass market phase

At the start of the 1970s, hand-held electronic calculators were very costly, at
two or three weeks' wages, and so were a luxury item. The high price was due to
their construction requiring many mechanical and electronic components which were
costly to produce, and production runs that were too small to exploit economies of
scale. Many firms saw that there were good profits to be made in the calculator
business with the margin on such high prices. However, the cost of calculators fell
as components and their production methods improved, and the effect of economies of
scale was felt.

By 1976, the cost of the cheapest four-function pocket calculator had dropped to a
few dollars, about 1/20th of the cost five years before. The results of this were
that the pocket calculator was affordable, and that it was now difficult for the
manufacturers to make a profit from calculators, leading to many firms dropping out
of the business or closing down. The firms that survived making calculators tended
to be those with high outputs of higher quality calculators, or producing high-
specification scientific and programmable calculators.[citation needed]

Mid-1980s to present

The Elektronika MK-52 was a programmable RPN-style calculator that accepted

extension modules; it was manufactured in the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1992
The first calculator capable of symbolic computing was the HP-28C, released in
1987. It could, for example, solve quadratic equations symbolically. The first
graphing calculator was the Casio fx-7000G released in 1985.

The two leading manufacturers, HP and TI, released increasingly feature-laden

calculators during the 1980s and 1990s. At the turn of the millennium, the line
between a graphing calculator and a handheld computer was not always clear, as some
very advanced calculators such as the TI-89, the Voyage 200 and HP-49G could
differentiate and integrate functions, solve differential equations, run word
processing and PIM software, and connect by wire or IR to other
calculators/computers.

The HP 12c financial calculator is still produced. It was introduced in 1981 and is
still being made with few changes. The HP 12c featured the reverse Polish notation
mode of data entry. In 2003 several new models were released, including an improved
version of the HP 12c, the "HP 12c platinum edition" which added more memory, more
built-in functions, and the addition of the algebraic mode of data entry.

Calculated Industries competed with the HP 12c in the mortgage and real estate
markets by differentiating the key labeling; changing the �I�, �PV�, �FV� to easier
labeling terms such as "Int", "Term", "Pmt", and not using the reverse Polish
notation. However, CI's more successful calculators involved a line of construction
calculators, which evolved and expanded in the 1990s to present. According to Mark
Bollman,[41] a mathematics and calculator historian and associate professor of
mathematics at Albion College, the "Construction Master is the first in a long and
profitable line of CI construction calculators" which carried them through the
1980s, 1990s, and to the present.

Personal computers often come with a calculator utility program that emulates the
appearance and functions of a calculator, using the graphical user interface to
portray a calculator. One such example is Windows Calculator. Most personal data
assistants (PDAs) and smartphones also have such a feature.

Use in education
In most countries, students use calculators for schoolwork. There was some initial
resistance to the idea out of fear that basic or elementary arithmetic skills would
suffer. There remains disagreement about the importance of the ability to perform
calculations in the head, with some curricula restricting calculator use until a
certain level of proficiency has been obtained, while others concentrate more on
teaching estimation methods and problem-solving. Research suggests that inadequate
guidance in the use of calculating tools can restrict the kind of mathematical
thinking that students engage in.[42] Others have argued[who?] that calculator use
can even cause core mathematical skills to atrophy, or that such use can prevent
understanding of advanced algebraic concepts.[43] In December 2011 the UK's
Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, voiced concern that children can become
"too dependent" on the use of calculators.[44] As a result, the use of calculators
is to be included as part of a review of the Curriculum.[44] In the United States,
many math educators and boards of education enthusiastically endorsed the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards and actively promoted the use
of classroom calculators from kindergarten through high school.

See also