History of Calculators Timeline

IBM released the 608 plugboard programmable calculator in 1957. It was IBM's first all-transistor product and used punched cards for input and output, replacing the larger vacuum-tube IBM 603.

The Casio Computer Company released the Model 14-A in Japan in 1957. It was the world's first relatively compact, all-electric calculator.

Image source: Casio

In October 1961, Bell Punch and Sumlock announced the ANITA, the world's first all-electronic desktop calculator. The name stood for A New Inspiration To Arithmetic/Accounting.

Image source: Sumlock ANITA calculator

The ANITA Mk VII for continental Europe and Mk VIII for Britain and the rest of the world were displayed as models for delivery from early 1962.

The Friden EC-130 superseded the ANITA's tube technology in June 1963. It used all-transistor circuitry, displayed four 13-digit numbers on a cathode-ray tube, and introduced Reverse Polish Notation to the calculator market.

Image source: Friden, Inc.

In 1964, Sharp introduced the 25-kilogram CS-10A, while Italy's Industria Macchine Elettroniche introduced the IME 84, which could connect multiple keyboard and display units.

The Mathatronics Mathatron in 1964 and Olivetti Programma 101 in late 1965 were solid-state desktop electronic calculators with printing, floating-point arithmetic, algebraic entry, programmability, and stored programs.

Image source: Programma 101

Bulgaria's ELKA 6521 was introduced in 1965. It was developed by the Central Institute for Calculation Technologies and built at the Elektronika factory in Sofia.

Image source: ELKA

The Victor 3900 was the first calculator to use integrated circuits instead of individual transistors. Production problems delayed its sales until 1966.

Casio produced the AL-1000 in 1967, an early programmable desktop calculator and possibly the first Japanese example of its type.

The Monroe Epic programmable calculator came onto the market in 1967, extending programmable electronic calculation beyond experimental and specialized systems.

Image source: Programmable calculator

The first handheld calculator was the 1967 Cal Tech prototype. Jack Kilby led its development at Texas Instruments as part of a research project to create a portable calculator.

Image source: Calculator

By 1970, calculators could be built from only a few low-power chips, making portable models powered by rechargeable batteries practical. The first commercially produced portable calculators appeared in Japan and were soon marketed worldwide.

The Sanyo ICC-0081 Mini Calculator, Canon Pocketronic, and Sharp QT-8B micro Compet were among the first commercially produced portable calculators, introduced in Japan in 1970.

The Bowmar 901B, popularly called the Bowmar Brain, appeared in the United States in autumn 1971. It was the first American-made pocket calculator, with four functions and an eight-digit red LED display.

The Busicom LE-120A HANDY, marketed early in 1971, was the first truly pocket-sized electronic calculator.

Image source: Busicom

Mostek introduced the MK6010 in early 1971, the first calculator-on-a-chip integrated circuit. Texas Instruments followed later that year, while Pico Electronics and General Instrument produced a single-chip calculator IC for the Monroe Royal Digital III.

Image source: Mostek

Sharp introduced the EL-8 in January 1971 after extensive efforts to reduce calculator size and power consumption. It was also marketed as the Facit 1111 and approached true pocket-calculator dimensions.

Image source: Sharp EL-8

Digitron made the DB 800 in Buje, Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia, in May 1971. It was the first European-made pocket calculator, offering four functions, an eight-digit display, and warning symbols.

Image source: Calculator

Released in August 1972, the Sinclair Executive was the first slimline pocket calculator. It measured about 137 by 56 by 9 millimeters and weighed approximately 71 grams.

Image source: Sinclair Executive

Rockwell International manufactured some of the first successful LCD calculators, which were sold from 1972 under names including Dataking, Harden, Ibico, Lloyds, Prismatic, and Rapid Data.

Image source: Liquid-crystal display

Sharp launched the EL-805 in 1972, a successful slim pocket calculator using a reflective DSM-LCD. Its design helped lead to increasingly thin and energy-efficient calculators.

After two years of development and a failed partnership with Texas Instruments, Eldorado Electrodata released five pocket calculators in 1972.

Texas Instruments introduced the SR-10 in 1973. Its algebraic entry system and scientific notation brought slide-rule functions to a pocket calculator priced at $150.

Image source: Texas Instruments

The Elektronika B3-04, the first Soviet Union-made pocket-sized calculator, was developed by the end of 1973 and sold at the start of 1974.

The Sinclair Cambridge, launched in the early 1970s, was the first pocket calculator with scientific functions capable of replacing a slide rule. One low-cost version was launched in August 1973.

Image source: Scientific calculator

After several earlier ELKA models, Bulgaria released the ELKA 101 in 1974 as its first pocket calculator.

Hewlett-Packard introduced the HP-65 in 1974 as the first programmable pocket calculator. It could hold 100 instructions and store and retrieve programs using a built-in magnetic card reader.

Image source: HP-65

The SR-50 followed the SR-10 in 1974 with logarithmic and trigonometric functions, competing with the HP-35. In 1977, Texas Instruments introduced the mass-marketed TI-30 line, which continues to be produced.

Image source: TI-30

The first Soviet scientific pocket-sized calculator, the Elektronika B3-18, was completed by the end of 1975.

Image source: Elektronika B3-34

By 1976, the cheapest four-function pocket calculators cost only a few dollars, approximately one-twentieth of their price five years earlier.

The Elektronika B3-21, the first Soviet pocket battery-powered programmable calculator, was developed by the end of 1976 and released at the beginning of 1977.

The Casio Mini Card LC-78, introduced in 1978, was among the first credit-card-sized calculators. It could operate for months under normal use on button-cell batteries.

Low-power CMOS calculator circuits made solar power practical around 1978. Examples included the Royal Solar 1, Sharp EL-8026, and Teal Photon.

Image source: Solar-powered calculator

Calculated Industries was founded in 1978 to focus on specialized calculator markets. Its first product, the Loan Arranger, was designed for real-estate calculations and included preprogrammed payment and future-value functions.

Hewlett-Packard released the HP-41C in 1979. It was the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable calculator.

Image source: HP-41C

The HP-12C financial calculator was introduced in 1981 and remained in production with few changes, becoming a long-lived specialized calculator.

Image source: HP-12C

The Casio fx-7000G, released in 1985, was the first graphing calculator. It enabled users to display mathematical graphs directly on a handheld device.

Image source: Casio fx-7000G

Calculated Industries launched the Construction Master in 1985. It was preprogrammed for construction calculations involving angles, stairs, roofing, pitch, rise, run, and feet-inch fractions.

In 1986, calculators still represented an estimated 41 percent of the world's general-purpose hardware capacity for computing information.

The HP-28C, released in 1987, was the first calculator capable of symbolic computing, allowing it to manipulate mathematical expressions rather than only evaluate numerical inputs.

Image source: HP-28 series

In 2003, HP released several new calculator models, including the HP 12c platinum edition. It added memory, built-in functions, and an algebraic data-entry mode to the established HP 12c.

By 2007, calculators' share of the world's general-purpose hardware capacity to compute information had fallen to less than 0.05 percent.

In December 2011, the UK's Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, expressed concern that children could become too dependent on calculators.

As of 2016, basic calculators were inexpensive, while scientific and graphing models generally cost more, reflecting their greater functionality.