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Pascaline (also known as the arithmetic machine or Pascal's calculator) is a mechanical calculator invented by Blaise Pascal in 1642. Pascal was led to develop a calculator by the laborious arithmetical calculations required by his father's work as the supervisor of taxes in Rouen . [ 2 ]
A calendrical calculation is a calculation concerning calendar dates. Calendrical calculations can be considered an area of applied mathematics. Some examples of calendrical calculations: Converting a Julian or Gregorian calendar date to its Julian day number and vice versa (see § Julian day number calculation within that article for details).
Its production debut of 1851 [2] launched the mechanical calculator industry [4] which ultimately built millions of machines well into the 1970s. For forty years, from 1851 to 1890, [7] the arithmometer was the only type of mechanical calculator in commercial production, and it was sold all over the world. During the later part of that period ...
A mechanical calculator, or calculating machine, is a mechanical device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic automatically, or (historically) a simulation such as an analog computer or a slide rule.
It was the first calculator that could perform all four basic arithmetic operations. [3] Its intricate precision gearwork, however, was somewhat beyond the fabrication technology of the time; mechanical problems, in addition to a design flaw in the carry mechanism, prevented the machines from working reliably. [4] [5]
All of the logic functions of a calculator had been squeezed into the first "calculator on a chip" integrated circuits (ICs) in 1971, but this was leading edge technology of the time and yields were low and costs were high. Many calculators continued to use two or more ICs, especially the scientific and the programmable ones, into the late 1970s.
Circular slide rules to estimate ovulation dates and fertility are known as wheel calculators. [ 28 ] A Department of Defense publication from 1962 [ 29 ] infamously included a special-purpose circular slide rule for calculating blast effects, overpressure, and radiation exposure from a given yield of an atomic bomb.
The calculator was code-named Wizard, [4] which is the first known use of a code name for a calculator. It also contained an Easter egg that allowed users to access a not-especially accurate stopwatch mode. [5] [6] An accurate version of the stopwatch mode was officially featured in the 1975 successor of the HP-45, the HP-55.