The thing I noticed the last time I spent some hours reading about old calculators was that in the pre-integrated-circuit era, there seemed to be a sharp class- and sex-based division between calculators made to be used by the girls in the computing pool, and calculators made to be used by high-status scientists and engineers. The machines in the first category had unpleasant case designs and patronizing training materials constantly hectoring the user toward greater speed and accuracy (reminding me of the touch-typing textbooks I saw in the 1980s); often they'd have features designed not to make the calculator easier to use, but to make it possible for a properly drilled operator to go faster. The machines in the second category were sold as precision instruments with friendly, chatty manuals explaining theory of operation.
Of course, what happened later on was that the computing pool disappeared entirely, replaced by programmable computers, and low-end calculators today tend to be machines for occasional use by people who don't need to calculate very often (to the extent that calculators as standalone devices are used at all--many people just use the ones built into computers or, increasingly, telephones).
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Date: 2006-10-22 11:57 pm (UTC)Of course, what happened later on was that the computing pool disappeared entirely, replaced by programmable computers, and low-end calculators today tend to be machines for occasional use by people who don't need to calculate very often (to the extent that calculators as standalone devices are used at all--many people just use the ones built into computers or, increasingly, telephones).