The first prototype calculator could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. Until 1967, the only calculators weighed about 55 pounds and cost more than $2,500.
Forty years ago Texas Instruments unveiled a new product that would ultimately change the world, especially the way we work with numbers.
Until 1967, the only calculators weighed about 55 pounds and cost more than $2,500.
But TI created the first handheld battery operated calculator.
At first glance it looks a lot like simple calculators of today, the keyboard is similar and it had four functions.
The first prototype calculator could add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
The answers were burned into a roll of paper similar to what is used today for many grocery store receipts.
Jerry Merryman was one of the three team leaders who worked on the project.
He remembers listening in shock when his boss first described what he wanted them to create.
There were many engineering hurdles to cross.
Creating a battery source powerful yet small enough was one major problem.
Merryman says he was able to sketch out the original plans in just three days and three nights of work.
The project took about 18 months but Merryman says some people gave
up and quit during that time thinking the calculator would never work.
There is hardly a math class in the world where students don't use
calculators and it is hard to imagine what life would be like without
them.
Much of the work on the portable calculator led to other portable products including computers.
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