When was the first solid-state electronic calculator created?

One good thing about being older is we remember such things when it happened

I bought my first Ti, 4 function calculator for $99 at People Credit Jewelers in Hamilton Ontario in 1975 to use in my first year of college. I had to take a loan out for it.

As an electrical apprentice in 1970 I bought a Panasonic scientific calculator for my schoolwork. It had a fluorescent display and devoured batteries at an alarming rate. It cost nearly $100 when I was on a gross wage of $20 per week, so probably equivalent to buying a really high spec pc these days. I wasn't allowed to use it for exams - I sat my trade finals in 1972 and that was the first year that the examination board allowed the use of a slide rule for exams! Before that we had to use books of Math tables (Logs, sines, cosines, tangents etc). Such a lot has changed in the last 50 years. Interestingly, I still have my Math tables book and my slide rule, but the calculator has long since died.

johnespo, Seriously? "Outstanding question"? It's a simple question with a one sentence answer that fails to expound at all on the subject. Please, give it a break. I can't possibly imagine what it is you get from being so sycophantic.

The key to the correct answer was the words "solid state," which was a big selling point in electronics in the 60's and 70's. Not much trivia here, just good old-fashioned knowledge.

Yes I recall these things arriving and until tills calculated change and businesses taught junior staff how to use them correctly I constantly checked change. When the power went out I had to actually write down a calculation for a very sweet but vacuous young lady to complete my purchase. Kids have struggled to do basic math in their heads since

Alexander Sickert, I doubt that you were. The three engineers envisioned building an IC-based, battery-powered "miniature calculator" that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide, yet still fit in the palm of your hand. After two years of development, they completed the first hand-held calculator in 1967. The battery-powered device could accept six-digit numbers, perform the four basic arithmetic functions, and print results as large as 12 digits on a thermal printer. Code-named the "Cal-Tech," the calculator measured about 4.25 by 6.15 by 1.75 inches and weighed 45 ounces. Laid out in discrete components (transistors, resistors, etc.), the electronics within the device filled a large lab bench top. Thanks to the ingenuity of the Texas Instruments team, most of the components were integrated into just four ICs. The prototype calculator was shown to a number of business machine and electronic companies. Canon (Japan) became very interested in this new technology; seeing the potential of miniaturized electronics to help fuel their growth in the business machine market.. Their Pocketronic, sold 3 years later in 1970, bears a striking resemblance to the original "Cal-Tech" and even kept its unique, horizontal-path, thermal printing tape system. The three engineers showed that calculators could be reduced to fit a person's hand. As more companies saw the potential, a market was created where there was none before. Businesses and consumers loved the convenience of an electronic "personal calculating device." As the calculators shrunk in size and, very quickly, in price, the market grew to mammoth proportions. Several samples of the "Cal-Tech" were built. One was given to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and another resides at the American Computer Museum in Bozeman, Montana.

I cannot believe that over 10% of the people picked the 1880s as the answer!

williamrlaughlin, how long did you have to wait before there was a comment where you could reasonably use the term "sycophantic"?

In 1973 the spoiled braggadocios nephew of a Louisiana governor showed up in class with one that covered a good size portion of his desk top. It had four functions and he proudly announced it cost $200 to let us know how much wealthier he was than the rest of us. Calculators have disqualified a large number of people from military service because they couldn't do math without a calculator. I bought my first one a couple years out of highschool a small more compact version of that $200 calculator for around $15. When I began working in a technical field and needed one for complex problems I bought a TI scientific calculator for around $35. It was even thinner and much more compact than my first one .

I thought it was Blaise Pascal in 1642 who invented the first mechanical calculator.

Now all you need is a phone.

...Texas Instruments?...

Where's my abacus... no joke. I'm quite good at mental arithmatic, but lots of people in Asia can use an abacus quicker than a calculator and my brain!

Keep brain active

Teresa Green, I thought the whole idea was to ask trivia/fun questions. Stop taking things so seriously, if you find these so pathetic, there are plenty of other quiz programmes you can go too. Keep smiling

Got it!

I'm a south side San Antonio girl and we had calculators in school back in the mid to late 60s thanks to TI

Our teachers would only allow us to use them in certain exams.

Oh NO! A bad start & fingers touching in wrong spots!

theatermaven, lol

George Oliver Prince, ...exactly

I know. I had one! $150 for +,-, x, / ! Nothing else.

A gift from the gods! So much easier to operate than the hand cranks.