This category got me thinking . . .

Which was your very first calculator?

WinCalc doesn't count

Believe it or not, my first calculator was an Abacus. I was like five then but still.

Then in junior high, it was Texas instruments and after that it was various calculators by Casio.

Which was yours?

I don't think there are any other major brands that make calculators.

2. ## Re: Your first calculator

This

isn't quite the one I had but it's close enough. You had to do square roots using divide and average. Trig functions were science fiction.

\$79.95 back in like 1972 or so 3. ## Re: Your first calculator When I was about 10 my dad bought a TI-58 . ... oooh! It was pure magic back then! A few years back I wrote my own calculator: calculatorpi.com ... because as an engineer I often need to reuse results of various sub-calculations or re-run calculations with different input values (example). But I think that there is a place for abacus and also the logarithmic slide rule in the classrooms. In fact maybe I should build a logarithmic slide rule (more fun than buying, no?) and use it at home occasionally to show my family and friends what a neat tool it is :-) 4. ## Re: Your first calculator My first calculator was literally a K&E log-log duplex decitrig (if I remember the name correctly) slide rule. There weren't any hand held calculators in the '50s. The first hand held scientific calculator I ever held in my hands was an HP-35. The chairman of our department bought one when they first came out (about 1972). Cost was in the neighborhood of$400, too expensive for most of us at the time. That calculator marked the beginning of the end for slide rules.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-35

5. ## Re: Your first calculator

Le's see. Abacus, slide rule, the first Radio Shack programmable (I forget the model name), TI 92, TI Voyage, Mathematica (if you can call that a calculator.)

-Dan

6. ## Re: Your first calculator

Mine was cheap solar calculator, Casio digital (1st gen), Texas Instrument TI-85 (O how I loved it and wrecked it by dropping it on the floor. Silly me!), TI-85 plus (Again damaged because unused battery was inside the case for years. I forgot that I have a calculator. Absent minded Mathematician you can say!), Maple, Matlab, And now Octave. I love Octave and it's free and open source. Go Open Source!!!

7. ## Re: Your first calculator

That needed to hold up until the point that 1820 and the licensing in France of Thomas de Colmar's four capacity Arithmometer. This first monetarily reasonable tallying machine was produced from 1851 to 1915 and replicated by around 20 organizations crosswise over Europe.

8. ## Re: Your first calculator

You know I rarely use the memory (MC, M+, M-) thingy. Call me a old fashion guy.

9. ## Re: Your first calculator

Originally Posted by Mathdoctor
Believe it or not, my first calculator was an Abacus. I was like five then but still.

If you count an abacus, my first calculator was my fingers.