History of calculators


1200 Nobody reallly knows when the abacus was invented, or by whom. It appeared in China around 1200 A.D. Counting boards with a similar layout and made of stone and metal were used by Greeks, Romans and Babylonians as early as 500 B.C.

 

 

 

 

 

1620 The slide rule was invented by William Oughtred in 1620, six years after John Napier discovered logarithms.

1645 The first calculating machine, the Pascaline, was invented in 1645 by a Frenchman, Blaise Pascal, when he was 21 years old. He did so to help his father, who was an accountant.

 


1853 The world's first printing calculator, the Scheutz Difference Engine was introduced around 1853. It was built by George Scheutz and his son Edvard, based on the work of their friend Charles Babbage who later became known as the "father of computing".



1888 The first printing calculator to be patented was done so by American William Seward Burroughs in 1888. Later models included electric motors to replace the hand-driven cranks.

1928 IBM adopted the 80-column punched card, the computer standard for the next 50 years.

1946 "The machine age tool took a step backward yesterday at the Emie Pyle Theater as the abacus, centuries old, dealt defeat to the most up-to-date electric machine now being used by the United States Government...The abacus victory was decisive." Stars and Stripes November 12, 1946

 
1958 I used the Magic Brain Calculator when I , Bill Gannon,did my homework. It used no batteries or electricity. However, it did not print.


1960 Electronics were introduced to printing adding machines in 1960, which rendered them almost silent.

 

1995-2000 Windows, a personal computer operating system, included a free calculator. However, it did not print.
2001 The MadAdder was introduced for the Windows PC in August, 2001. Capable of displaying text on any row of the virtual adding machine tape, this calculator can print the tape on any printer in columnar format. It has many other features such as talking during input and calling back. It can play the sound of several different classic electric and electronic calculators during input, for those who like to hear the rhythm of the machine. The user can change the color scheme of the interface. The MadAdder also includes a Converter for converting measurements between the US, imperial and metric systems, and many more features.