3 Mar
2013
3 Mar
'13
10:05 a.m.
On Sun, 3 Mar 2013, Rick Bensene wrote:
Desktop electronic calculators (not to mention,
handheld electronic
calcuators) didn't come into existence until the early 1960's. There
were motor-driven mechanical calculators that were pretty sophisticated
in '56, but anything that was electronic that behaved like a calculator
were in Desk-sized units, such as Monroe's Monrobot calculators
(introduced to the world on TV in the '54 election, calculating who
would win the presidency), Casio's relay-based "desk" calculators, and a
few other machines sprinkled around the world.
Not ALL school activities forbade calculators.
More than half a century ago, I attended my father's Saturday
lecture class on Probability and Statistics. At the conclusion
of each lecture, I spent a few hours in "the lab" helping his
students with the 100 key calculators. Doing things such as
calculating the odds on Craps. In exchange for that work, I
was given a few hours access to the stacks of the university library.
In my day, slide rules were it. As I mentioned previously,
when I was in high school, the SAT and other standardized
tests prohibited slide rules (and nobody that I knew had a
Kurta), but they ENCOURAGED bringing in scrap paper, including
graph paper! AFter my generation folded log graph paper to make
impromptu slide rules, they changed the rules.
In 1969-1970, in college, I had access to a Wang desktop
calculator with nixie tubes, and even a clamshell reader
for port-a-punch cards.
In 1970 - 1972, at GSFC, in addition to APL, FORTRAN, etc.,
we had a desktop calculator with a tiny CRT that we rolled
around on a typewriter cart.
The first time that I saw a handheld calculator (HP) was in 1972.
They were ~$350
Then, at my next job, my boss got a 4 function pocket calculator
from a friend in France - they stored it in my desk
drawer, and
listed me on contract bids as "Manager of Computing
Resources"
But prices came down! In the mid 1970s, I had calculators,
and kept buying more as the prices fell. I remember the
FIRST <$5 Commodore! calculator.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com