Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Calculator |
CalculatorNoun1. A small machine that is used for mathematical calculations. 2. An expert at calculation (or at operating calculating machines). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "calculator" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1827. (references) |
Etymology: Calculator \Cal"cu*la*tor\, noun. [Latin: compare to the French expression calculateur.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Calculator [Cambridge] n. Syn. for bitty box. Source: Jargon File. |
Fine Arts | The number of second or minutes it took to reach this tint was measured by stop watch, and a -- converted this time into the correct exposure for any type of sensitive material. Source: European Union. (references) |
Slang | Noun. Source: Popular scales favored by marijuana dealers are roughly the same size and color as a standard calculator. Additionally, a scale is used to calculate the value of a given amount of marijuana. Definition: A scale used to weigh marijuana. Context: Used by dealers only, many times in reference to borrowing a scale, or for informative questions about a scale. This term is ususally used if the dealers are talking somewhere where others might hear them, as "calculator" might cause less suspicion than ". Social Source: Marijuana Dealers. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A calculator is a small special-purpose device for performing numerical calculations. Nowadays many people always have a calculator with them as part of their mobile phone and/or personal digital assistant. Engineers and accountants often make use of calculators, where a computation is not complex enough to demand the use of a general-purpose computer. Children often use calculators for school work. Also, some wrist watcheses contain a calculator (although this was more a fad of the 1980s).
TI-85 graphing calculatorToday calculators are electronic, but in the past mechanical and clerical aids such as slide rules, abaci, books of mathematical tables and Napier's bones were used, and a "calculator" was a person (most often female) who made calculations using pen(cil) and paper.
Today most calculators are handheld microelectronic devices, but in the past some calculators were as large as many of today's computers. The first mechanical calculators were mechanical desktop devices, which were soon replaced by electromechanical desktop calculators, and then by electronic devices using first thermionic valves, then transistors, then hard-wired integrated circuit logic.
A pocket calculator is a small battery-powered or solar powered electronic digital computer made possible by integrated circuit and semiconductor technology. Typically they are limited to an 8 – 10 digit single-number display and a few basic functions of arithmetic, but some modern ones have more of the features of a general-purpose computer. Pocket calculators rendered the slide rule obsolete.
Calculators vary in their capabilities. Some are limited to only basic arithmetic; others support trigonometric and other mathematical functions. The most advanced modern calculators are programmable, can display graphics, and include features of computer algebra systems.
In 1954, IBM demonstrated a large all-transistor calculator. In 1957, IBM released the first commercial all-transistor calculator (IBM 608). The first hand-helds, as opposed to desktop calculators, went on sale in 1970 with models from Sharp and Canon, weighing around 1.7 lb. The first pocket-sized model came out in 1971 from Bowmar, with four functions and an eight-digit red LED display, for $240. The first with scientific functions was the 1972 HP-35 from Hewlett Packard (HP); it, along with all later HP engineering calculators, used Reverse Polish Notation (RPN). Most common among early scientific calculators was the TI-30 from Texas Instruments (TI). The first programmable hand-held calculator was the HP-65, in 1974; it had a capacity of 100 instructions, and could store and retrieve programs with a built-in magnetic card reader. In 1979, HP released the first alpha-numeric, programmable, expandable calculator, the HP-41C. It could be expanded with RAM (memory) and ROM (software) modules, as well as peripherals like bar code wands, floppy disk drives, paper-roll printers, and miscellanous communication interfaces (RS-232, HP-IL, HP-IB).
Monroe manual digital caulculatorThe two leading manufacturers, HP and TI, released steadily more feature-laden calculators during the 1980s and 90s. At the turn of the millennium, the line between a graphing calculator and a PDA/ handheld computer was not always clear (forgetting the keyboard for the sake of the argument), as some advanced calculators such as the TI-89 and HP-49 could differentiate and integrate functions, run word processing and PIM software, and connect by wire or IR to other calculators/computers.
In March 2002, HP announced that the company would no longer produce calculators, which was hard to fathom for some fans of the company's products; the HP-48 series in particular had an extremely loyal customer base. Nevertheless, HP continued producing calculators, but the latest models as of 2003 reportedly didn't have the mechanical quality HP's earlier calculators were famous for (instead featuring the more "youthful" look and feel of contemporary competing designs).
The business calculator HP-12C is still produced. It was introduced in 1981 and is built until today with nearly no changes. For 2003 several new models were announced, including an improved version of the HP-12C, the "HP-12C platinum edition".
The word "calculator" is occasionally used as a pejorative term to describe an inadequately capable general-purpose computer, as discussed in the Jargon file.
See also: slide rule, abacus, adding machine , List of calculators
External Links
- On slide rules and mechanical calculators
- On TI's US Patent No. 3,819,921
- The Museum of HP Calculators
- HP Calculators' Wiki
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Calculator."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| CALC | English | Calculator | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: CalculatorSynonyms: calculating machine (n), computer (n), estimator (n), figurer (n), reckoner (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Numeration | Arithmetician, calculator, abacist, algebraist, mathematician; statistician, geometer; programmer; accountant, auditor. |
Abacus, logometer, slide rule, slipstick, tallies, Napier's bones, calculating machine, difference engine, suan-pan; adding machine; cash register; electronic calculator, calculator, computer; | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Calculator |
| English words defined with "calculator": Abacist, abacus, adding machine ♦ counter ♦ hand calculator ♦ pocket calculator ♦ quipu ♦ tabulator, totaliser, totalizer. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "calculator": arbitrary precision calculator, Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator ♦ POLICY-VALUE CALCULATOR. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Calculator" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (calculator), Romanian (adding machine, calculator, computer, computing, counter, reckoner, reckoning). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Clever | You are an engineer if you have ever owned a calculator with no equal key and know what RPN stands for. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Moth found trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1945. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found". They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus introducing the term "debugging a computer program". In 1988, the log, with the moth still taped by the entry, was in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Computer Museum at Dahlgren, Virginia. Credit: NAVY. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Calculator" by Jamez Picard Commentary: "Close-up of a calculator." | "Calculator" by Nik Frey Commentary: "My hot loving calculator ..." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It was the exact calculator who succeeded |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Expandia customers are provided with a form of calculator, which generates individual code for each bank operation including Internet purchase. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Calculator" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.72% of the time. "Calculator" is used about 351 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.72% | 350 | 15,269 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.28% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 351 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "calculator": arbitrary precision calculator ♦ automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator ♦ be a good calculator ♦ desk calculator ♦ electronic calculator ♦ electronic desk calculator ♦ hand calculator ♦ pocket calculator ♦ solar calculator. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "calculator": calculator-like. | |
Ending with "calculator": pocket-calculator, wrist-calculator. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "calculator"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | pasqyrë me shifra, kalkulatriçe xhepi, kalkulatriçe. (various references) | |
Arabic | مجموعة جداول, آلة حاسبة صغيرة, آلة حاسبة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сметачна машина (accumulator, adder, calculating machine), калкулатор. (various references) | |
Chinese | 计算器. (various references) | |
Czech | poèetní tabulky, kalkulačka, kalkulaèka. (various references) | |
Danish | regnemaskine (calculating machine), kalkulator (calculating machine). (various references) | |
Dutch | rekenmachine (calculating machine), calculator. (various references) | |
Esperanto | kalkulilo. (various references) | |
Farsi | حسابگر (Arithmetic), حساب کننده . (various references) | |
Finnish | laskin (counter). (various references) | |
French | machine à calculer (calculating machine), calculette (pocket calculator), calculatrice (calculating machine). (various references) | |
German | Rechenmaschine (abacus, ball-frame, calculating machine, counting-frame), rechner (arithmetician, calculators, computer, data processor, reckoner, reckoners). (various references) | |
Greek | κομπιουτεράκι (pocket calculator), μηχανή υπολογισμού (calculating machine), υπολογιστήσ (calculating, reckoner), αριθμητικός υπολογιστής, αριθμομηχανή. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מחשבון, מכונת חשוב. (various references) | |
Hungarian | zsebszámológép (pocket calculator), kalkulátor. (various references) | |
Indonesian | mesin hitung. (various references) | |
Italian | calcolatrice (comptometer), calcolatore (calculating, computer, reckoner). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 電卓 , 計算器 (computer), 計算機 (computer), カリ明礬 (calcium, calcium wafer, Calgary, cardioscope, chalk, potassium alum). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | でんたく, カルキュレーター , けいさんき (computer). (various references) | |
Korean | 계산기. (various references) | |
Manx | calghooleyder. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | alculatorcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | calculadora (calculators). (various references) | |
Romanian | calculator (adding machine, computer, computing, counter, reckoner, reckoning). (various references) | |
Romansch | calculader. (various references) | |
Russian | калькулятор. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | računar (computer, reckoner), džepni računar. (various references) | |
Spanish | calculadora (accounting machine, reckoner). (various references) | |
Swedish | räknare (counter), miniräknare. (various references) | |
Thai | เครื่องคิดเลข. (various references) | |
Turkish | hesap yapan kimse, hesap makinesi (adding machine, calculating machine), hesap cetveli (ready reckoner, slide rule, tally-sheet). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | кошторисник, калькулятор, обчислювач (computer, numerator), обчислювальні таблиці (reckoner), арифмометр (comptometer), лічильник (computer, indicator, meter, numerator), лічильний пристрій. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | người tính máy tính. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | calculo. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "calculator": calculators. (additional references) | |
| |
"Calculator" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: calcalator, calculat, calkulator, culculator. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "calculator" (pronounced ka"lkyulā'ter) |
| 7 | -k y u l ā' t er | speculator. |
| 6 | -y u l ā' t er | accumulator, manipulator, regulator, simulator, stimulator. |
| 5 | -u l ā' t er | defibrillator, escalator, insulator, modulator, oscillator, percolator, ventilator, violator. |
| 4 | -l ā' t er | legislator. |
| 3 | -ā' t er | educator, elevator, accelerator, activator, actuator, administrator, agitator, alligator, allocator, alternator, animator, applicator, appropriator, arbitrator, aviator, carburetor, cogenerator, collaborator, commentator, communicator, conciliator, consolidator, coordinator, decorator, demonstrator, denominator, detonator, evaporator, excavator, exterminator, fabricator, facilitator, generator, gladiator, illuminator, illustrator, imitator, incinerator, incubator, indicator, infiltrator, innovator, instigator, integrator, interrogator, investigator, irrigator, liquidator, litigator, locator, mediator, Moderator, navigator, negotiator, operator, originator, perpetrator, radiator, refrigerator, renovator, respirator, syndicator, Terminator. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-c-c-l-l-o-r-t-u" | |
-3 letters: accrual, caracol, caracul, catcall, cloacal, curacao, curacoa, locular. | |
-4 letters: actual, alular, aortal, calcar, catalo, cloaca, collar, curtal, occult, ocular, torula, turaco. | |
-5 letters: actor, allot, altar, alula, aorta, artal, atoll, aural, cacao, calla, carat, carol, claro, clour, clout, coact, coala, coral, court, craal, laura, local, loral, occur, octal, ratal, talar, taroc, tolar, troll, trull. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-c-c-l-l-o-r-t-u" | |
+1 letter: calculators. | |
+3 letters: contractually, recalculation. | |
+4 letters: autocratically, recalculations. | |
+5 letters: acculturational, circumvallation, plutocratically, ultracommercial. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
