EquallzEquallzHomo Sapiens, or we humans have an evolution story, every living being has one and I believe that everything on this planet has an evolution story too. This blog is about the evolution of one of the most significant tools used my mankind, The Calculator.
It is not surprising to know that, abacus is not where the calculation journey actually began, because the very first calculating tools were none other than our fingers! And that is where the idea of calculation actually rose from.
Roughly 2 million years ago, during the stone age, quantities had now increased and humans now shifted to using stones and sticks to count.
Abacus came into the picture, almost 5000 years ago. The idea of abacus is said to originate from Mesopotamia, but the abacus we use today was actually invented in China.
Flashforward to 1617, when a handy tool called Napier’s bones was widely in use, and it somewhat looked like this.
Then came a breakthrough, the Pascaline, the first machine calculating device humanity had ever witnessed, it was almost the size of a shoebox and was used for basic arithmetic.
Later in 1820, came the monopolist, or the Arithmometer, which was the first commercially successful mechanical calculator, sold for nearly 90 years, and had a monopoly in the market for 40 years straight!
After using wheels and dial calculators for so long the world was now waiting for a more functional device with keys and buttons, which led to the invention of the Comptometer, nicknamed as the ‘woodies’ and was similar in appearance to that of a typewriter.
Years later in the 20th century, the world had become much faster, and portability was the new priority.1942, the year the first pocket sized mechanical calculator was introduced, the Curta calculator, which was almost the size of a burger.
From wooden boxes to pocket devices, the world of calculators had seen a huge transition, but more was yet to come. Exactly 30 years later, in 1972, HP introduced the revolutionary HP-35, the first handheld scientific calculator, also the first to use circuits and LEDs.
Many familiar scientific calculators were used until the 2000s.
The following years saw a historic invention, the smartphone, which now meant that the calculations were done on these virtual screens. With default as well as developed apps coming into the market.
Following the virtual regular calculators, we come to our present, full of resources and inventions, and where time and trust is the new priority, and the present of the calculating world would be:
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