This chapter discusses the technological advancements in calculators, from the contest between a Japanese abacus and a mechanical calculator to the rise of Texas Instruments graphing calculators. It covers the development of calculators using solenoids, the discovery of vacuum tubes, the invention of transistors, and the creation of integrated circuits. It also explores TI's dominance in the calculator market and the resistance to electronic calculators in classrooms.
Keeping track of numbers has always been part of what makes us human. So at some point along the way, we created a tool to help us keep count, and then we gave that tool a name. We called it: a calculator. But depending on what era you were born in, and maybe even what country, what constituted a 'calculator' varied widely.
Keith Houston wrote about the evolution of the calculator in his latest book, Empire of the Sum The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator. It is exactly the kind of nerdery we like to get up to here at 99% Invisible -- history explained through the lens of an everyday designed object.
Empire of the Sum