The pocket calculator is a modern convenience that we take for granted. Before its invention, machines designed for mathematical calculations were much larger and slower. The abacus was the first portable calculator. The first pocket calculators were introduced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with Texas Instruments and Sharp being among the first brands to introduce them. Technological advances led to the use of integrated circuits, which significantly reduced the size of computers. By 1972, pocket calculators were small enough to fit in someone’s pocket and became affordable to almost everyone.
There’s a lot of technology that we now simply take for granted, and the pocket calculator is no different. It’s one of those modern conveniences that we use all the time and just don’t even think about, whether we’re calculating a twenty percent tip at a local restaurant or doing comparison shopping with our cell phone’s calculator. Before the first pocket calculators, machines designed to perform mathematical calculations were much larger and slower. Things have certainly come a long way since the first pocket calculators were invented.
If you want to be technical, you could say that the first portable calculator was the abacus. Used in a wide variety of ancient cultures and still in use today in various parts of the world, the abacus is a simple counting device made of beads or stones that slide along wires or grooves. This device was used before the modern number system was adopted and is still used in many cultures today.
After years of scientific, mathematical and technological progress, the first machines capable of doing simple calculations were finally invented. There were many different machines that worked in various ways, but they all lacked one common feature: portability. Mechanical calculators, for example, used cranks and might weigh twenty or thirty pounds. IBM introduced the first all-transistor commercial electronic calculator in 1954. It was housed in several large cabinets and could have been yours for the low price of about $80,000 (USD).
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first pocket calculators began to appear. Texas Instruments introduced the first of many in 1967, which weighed just under three pounds. Instead of using an LCD screen, the results of his calculations – multiplication, subtraction and division – were printed on paper tape. The user could enter up to six digits, and printed results were as large as twelve. Another early pocket calculator was designed by the Sharp brand and introduced in 1971. This one used a fluorescent display and rechargeable batteries and weighed about a pound. This still wasn’t exactly something to carry in your pocket very easily, but it marked a significant reduction in size and power consumption compared to some of the other early pocket calculators.
Other technological advances at this time led to the first pocket calculators using integrated circuits. The first of these was introduced in Japan and was also the first to use an LED display and replaceable batteries. The use of integrated circuit “chips” has once again significantly reduced the size of computers. In 1972, some of the first pocket calculators introduced weighed as little as 2.5 ounces and were less than a third of an inch wide. Finally these calculators were of a size that could actually fit in someone’s pocket. Further advances allowed the prices of pocket calculators to become affordable to almost everyone within a few years.
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