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40th anniversary of the handheld calculator.Anyone a certain age, saw the emergence of the calculator.Anyone below a certain age, take this for granted.But it was only 40 years ago that the first handheld calculator was introduced by Texas Instruments.Over the years, I must have bought some (20+) plus calculators (all T.I. as I recall), yes I like calculator (the more powerful, the better).Enjoy this link, and watch the video in the multimedia gallery.http://education.ti.com/nspire/presshtt ... /c...L.wmv

I guess I can't share your enthusiasm, I'm one of those "take it for granted" people. But it is interesting.

Just for perspective: In 1973, one of my fraternity brothers bought a used car and a (Hewlett Packard, not TI) 'Business Analyst' calculator.The car was a cherry '63 Chevy II convertible, and cost him $300. The calculator cost $350!While the major reason for the announcement was to hype their new interface (TI-Nspire or some such thing), that video clip is awesome! It shows the original dictionary-sized 'Cal-Tech' calculator and two of its inventors.

I have become so calculator dependent its not even funny. I can not perform even the most basic of math without one.

Quote, originally posted by ajflan »I have become so calculator dependent its not even funny. I can not perform even the most basic of math without one.same here, i could tell you the series of buttons to push for a complicated stats problem, but i couldnt multiply a few numbers to save my life!

Thanks for making me feel old. I can clearly remember playing with my dad's new handheld calculator: it had red LED display and used 4 AA batteries (that it would just eat through).It looked similar to one of these: http://www.vintagecalculators....500-1

Holy crap! You are old! jk

Quote, originally posted by ajflan »Holy crap! You are old! jk 40 in less than 16 months

Hey, 40 is the new 30!

I learned to use a slide rule in high school. Fortunately by college calculators were more the norm.I remember my father (architect) buying his first 4 function calculator in early 70s. I don't remember the exact price, but it was several hundred dollars - a lot in the 70s.I have had my HP 12c calculator for 24 years, I use it every day. Amazing.

My brother was working for IBM when their first calculator was introduced. He brought one home for us to see and we we were amazed. It did basic functions and was in the $3-400.00 range if I remember correctly. It was huge, not something to carry in the front pocket of your shirt beside your package of chiclets.

Well, if you consider what the first calculators looked like, compared to the first computer, they were TINY... The "first" computer was the ENIAC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIACHere are some of the highlights... Quote »ENIAC was massive compared to modern PC standards. It contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. It weighed 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 8.5 feet (2.6 m) by 3 feet (0.9 m) by 80 feet (26 m), took up 680 square feet (67.6 m²), and consumed 150 kW of power. The first computer "bug" was reported in 1947..!! http://www.jamesshuggins.com/h...g.htmQuote »First Computer Bug The BugIn 1947, Grace Murray Hopper was working on the Harvard University Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator (a primitive computer).On the 9th of September, 1947, when the machine was experiencing problems, an investigation showed that there was a moth trapped between the points of Relay #70, in Panel F.The operators removed the moth and affixed it to the log. (See the picture above.) The entry reads: "First actual case of bug being found."(See the link at the bottom of this page for a much larger version of this picture.)The word went out that they had "debugged" the machine and the term "debugging a computer program" was born.Although Grace Hopper was always careful to admit that she was not there when it actually happened, it was one of her favorite stories.WoW

my dad was an electrical engineer. so calculators were big in our family. i remember learning this cool trick i'd type in 0.7734 and then hold the calculator upside down to lori sarnowski, my first girlfriend...

I bought a TI-30 while in high school electronics class (1974), it was the first one the instructor had seen...got an A that semester. BTW I still have/use the calculator. Oh yeah, jimincalif we did the slide rule thing too.

Quote, originally posted by ajflan »I have become so calculator dependent its not even funny. I can not perform even the most basic of math without one.Yay...I'm not the only one, LOL.