An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The Sinclair Scientific calculator was a 12-function, pocket-sized scientific calculator introduced in 1974, dramatically undercutting in price other calculators available at the time. The Sinclair Scientific Programmable, released a year later, was advertised as the first budget programmable calculator.
A scientific calculator is an electronic calculator, either desktop or handheld, designed to perform calculations using basic and complex mathematical operations and functions. They have completely replaced slide rules as well as books of mathematical tables and are used in both educational and professional settings.
Engineering notation or engineering form (also technical notation) is a version of scientific notation in which the exponent of ten is always selected to be divisible by three to match the common metric prefixes, i.e. scientific notation that aligns with powers of a thousand, for example, 531×103 instead of 5.31×105 (but on calculator displays written without the ×10 to save space). As an alternative to writing powers of 10, SI prefixes can be used, which also usually provide steps of a factor of a thousand. On most calculators, engineering notation is called "ENG" mode as scientific notation is denoted SCI.
The SR-50 was Texas Instruments' first scientific pocket calculator with trigonometric and logarithm functions. It enhanced their earlier SR-10 and SR-11 calculators, introduced in 1973, which had featured scientific notation, squares, square root, and reciprocals, but had no trig or log functions, and lacked other features. The SR-50 was introduced in 1974 and sold for US$170. It competed with the Hewlett-Packard HP-35.
The Casio FX-850P is a scientific calculator introduced in 1987 and sold until 1999.
There are various ways in which calculators interpret keystrokes. These can be categorized into two main types:
The TI-59 is an early programmable calculator, that was manufactured by Texas Instruments from 1977. It is the successor to the TI SR-52, quadrupling the number of "program steps" of storage, and adding "ROM Program Modules". Just like the SR-52, it has a magnetic card reader for external storage. One quarter of the memory is stored on each side of one card.
The Casio FX-7000G is a calculator which is widely known as being the world's first graphing calculator available to the public. It was introduced to the public and later manufactured between 1985 and c. 1988. Notable features are its ability to graph functions, and that it is programmable. The calculator offers 82 scientific functions and is capable of manual computation for basic arithmetic problems.
Programmable calculators are calculators that can automatically carry out a sequence of operations under control of a stored program. Most are Turing complete, and, as such, are theoretically general-purpose computers. However, their user interfaces and programming environments are specifically tailored to make performing small-scale numerical computations convenient, rather than general-purpose use.
The HP-25 was a hand-held programmable scientific/engineering calculator made by Hewlett-Packard between early January 1975 and 1978. The HP-25 was introduced as a cheaper alternative to the ground-breaking HP-65.
The Casio ClassPad 300, ClassPad 330 and fx-CP400 are stylus based touch-screen graphing calculators. It comes with a collection of applications that support self-study, like 3D Graph, Geometry, eActivity, Spreadsheet, etc. A large 160x240 pixel LCD touch screen enables stylus-based operation. It resembles Casio's earlier Pocket Viewer line. HP and Texas Instruments attempted to release similar pen based calculators (the HP Xpander and PET Project, but both were cancelled before release to the market.
The HP-16C Computer Scientist is a programmable pocket calculator that was produced by Hewlett-Packard between 1982 and 1989. It was specifically designed for use by computer programmers, to assist in debugging. It is a member of the HP Voyager series of programmable calculators. It was the only programmer's calculator ever produced by HP, though many later HP calculators have incorporated most of the 16C's functions.
Graphic calculators made by Casio include the touchscreen ClassPad 300 as well as the models with traditional buttons which can be divided into two main generations listed below. Casio produced the world's first graphing calculator, the fx-7000G.
Casio fx-3650P is a programmable scientific calculator manufactured by Casio Computer Co., Ltd. It can store 12 digits for the mantissa and 2 digits for the exponent together with the expression each time when the "EXE" button is pressed. Also, the calculator can use the previous result to do calculations by pressing "Ans".
The FX-603P was a programmable calculator, manufactured by Casio from 1990. It was the successor model to the Casio FX-602P. Since it was only released in a limited number of countries in small quantities, it is now an excessively rare item which commands high prices when sold.
The FX-601P and FX-602P were programmable calculators, manufactured by Casio from 1981. It was the successor model to the Casio FX-502P series and was itself succeeded in 1990 by the Casio FX-603P.
The FX-702P is a Pocket Computer, manufactured by Casio from 1981 to 1984.
The fx-39 is a scientific calculator manufactured by Casio released in 1978 and is one of several models to share the same physical design format.
Casio V.P.A.M. calculators are scientific calculators made by Casio which use Casio's Visually Perfect Algebraic Method (V.P.A.M.), Natural Display or Natural V.P.A.M. input methods.
