neat article on first handheld digital calculator

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I fondly remember replacing my trusty slide rule with a TI SR-50 in 1974. I do't remember exactly how much it cost, but I think it was like two weeks gross pay.

I was amazed they could get so much power in such a small device. I wonder how much more power my smartphone has. It is mind boggling.
 
Originally Posted By: spiritrider
I fondly remember replacing my trusty slide rule with a TI SR-50 in 1974. I do't remember exactly how much it cost, but I think it was like two weeks gross pay.

I was amazed they could get so much power in such a small device. I wonder how much more power my smartphone has. It is mind boggling.


$169.95
 
I'm still using the HP 15c calculator I got as a gift in 1983. It's worth more now than what seemed like a high price in 1983 ($110). There are emulators out there for iPhone and Android, but the feel of the button clicks make all the difference. Once you are used to RPN there's no going back.
 
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I'm still using the HP 15c calculator I got as a gift in 1983. It's worth more now than what seemed like a high price in 1983 ($110). There are emulators out there for iPhone and Android, but the feel of the button clicks make all the difference. Once you are used to RPN there's no going back.


I've gone back but it took a few years.

I remember when my cousin won the grand prize in a carnival game. He had a choice of a new bike, some other nice stuff, or a small handheld calculator. He chose the calculator.
 
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Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I'm still using the HP 15c calculator I got as a gift in 1983. It's worth more now than what seemed like a high price in 1983 ($110). There are emulators out there for iPhone and Android, but the feel of the button clicks make all the difference. Once you are used to RPN there's no going back.


I still use a 15C from 1983, also...was in high school and failed a physics quiz when the 8 key in my TI55II suddenly went haywire. It would ignore several presses and then get stuck and give me nonstop 8s. I told my mother that she had to shell out for a better calc for me if she wanted me to keep pulling straight As, it was very expensive for my barely hanging in there blue collar family but those As helped me pull down a full tuition ride to a really good university. I learned to program the thing to help with labs in college, but have forgotten it all now and the manual is long gone. I'm sure I could buy a duplicate online, but I've been getting by without one for over 20 years...

The thing is still solid after over 30 years of nonstop use and barely sips power, I change batteries every three years at most. I was given a new non-HP calc at my first job out of school and sold the thing after it sucked down a handfull of AAs in just a few months.
 
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I'm still using the HP 15c calculator I got as a gift in 1983. It's worth more now than what seemed like a high price in 1983 ($110). There are emulators out there for iPhone and Android, but the feel of the button clicks make all the difference. Once you are used to RPN there's no going back.


Same here, but mines from 1988 at Uni ($300+ Oz at the time)...mine went bonkers at one stage, giving incorrect answers to simple addition, then came good...no idea why, but it gets used every single working day.

http://nextshark.com/ibm-5mb-hard-drive/

Check the size of a 5MB hard drive back in the day...140GB in my phone...
 
There seems to be some debate on the first calculator to market.
Some claim the Bowmar company of Fort Wayne, Indiana was first.

https://www.educalc.net/1904485.page

I guess to clarify, I think it was the first US Made pocket calculator.

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 ($120.69). By the end of the decade, similar calculators were priced less than £5 ($7.64).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator#Development_of_electronic_calculators

Things were moving pretty fast during that era.
 
I remember buying my first calculator in 1975. It was a simple 5 function, and cost me $20. I used it to add up receipts at the end of the day, for a summer job, just before leaving for college.
 
I got a Rockwell business calculator in 1974. $400 (!). That was a heck of a lot of money back then. And then I wasn't allowed to use it at that time in business school. Did I ask about that before I bought it? Noooo, of course not.
 
I know I'm somewhat an "odd ball" as I'm a "seasoned" EE (HW designer) who NEVER learned to use an RPN calculator!
I had a Sharp 5500-II calculator (BASIC programming) all through college and it worked out great.

Know what's funny? My first job out of school after my BSEE was working at Commodore (on the Amiga), one of the early pioneers in the handheld calculator market before TI came in strong. I had found (and sold) many very special Commodore classic calculators I acquired to folks around the world as a result. There were boxes of them (even Commodore home thermostats if you can believe it) stored away as old stock, eventually discarded. Very good calculators back in the day.
 
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Originally Posted By: WhizkidTN
I know I'm somewhat an "odd ball" as I'm a "seasoned" EE (HW designer) who NEVER learned to use an RPN calculator!
I had a Sharp 5500-II calculator (BASIC programming) all through college and it worked out great.


I always used TI and Radio Shack calculators and pocket computers that used straight algebraic notation & logic. I think my 8K pocket microcomputer (PC-6) that was my final college workhorse (also BASIC programming with casette external memory / backup) was a Sharp or Sharp clone.
 
TI-36Solar_2.jpg


This was my first real scientific calculator back in the day. It still works, but the solar cell is beginning to delaminate. Apparently, this was still recently produced as certified for use in "explosive" atmospheres and the like, albeit at a high cost. Would love another just like it!
 
I was a TI-82 kid. I also have a TI89 for the novelty of embedded calculus functions... Im sure "there's an app for that" now...
 
I had a Rockwell calculator in the late 70s. Those were considered pretty good at the time. It was replaced with a TI-30 around 1979. The HP 15C was my high school graduation gift. As the earlier poster stated, I used to have it programmed to do a variety of things. I even have the "Advanced Functions" handbook (along with the original manual) to help me with the programming. Now, you can find an online source to run any of those calculations or use an app for your phone.
 
I think I used a TI-89 in college. Straight math, did graphing and imaginary numbers. Great machine. These days I use simple ones usually, otherwise, since I'm always in front of a computer, just use Excel. Somedays I miss using Matlab...
 
I think the first one I saw was I think an HP in RPN. I think I had one in '71 but not a HP. But it used RPN. As I recall to add 2 + 3 you did : "2 Enter 3+ Enter"
 
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