Tuesday, July 28, 2009

A Calculator by any other Name Is still a Calculator

A calculator by any other name is still a calculator. Or is it? A lot has changed since the invention of one of the first counting machines, the abacus. The abacus once provided solutions to complex calculations. Then there was Blaise Pascal's invention in 1642, a machine that could be used to add and subtract. Over time newer calculators were and continue to be introduced thus categorized based on functionalities that make them unique from others. For example there are basic calculators, scientific calculators and financial calculators. In addition, there are graphical calculators. Graphical calculators are used quite a bit by both middle school and high school students for use in classes such as geometry, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and physics. Among the list of graphical calculators are a myriad of choices to select from which include the following: TI83, TI84 and the TI-NSprie, HP Calculators, Casio Graphing Calculators , Texas Instruments Graphing Calculators. To truly understand the bells and whistles of each calculator count (plan) on spending a few minutes visiting their websites.

References:
See for definitions:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
Photos: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx

1 comment:

Elaine said...

We got new calculators here a few years ago. Wish we had them to add fractions when I was growing up.