Amazingly Accurate Tech Predictions
Not really RV related but I just had to post this somewhere.. :@ I just watched an old TV show called "Beachcombers". Since was a Canadian show many may not have heard of it? This particular epis...
Forum Discussion
stetwood wrote:
In 1972 I bought the first calculator I could find for under $100. It was about the size of a small book and could add, subtract, divide and multiply. No square roots or memory or battery either. The computers also used punch cards and where the size of a living room with a special raised floor.
I remember my dad's Hewlett Packard $375 calculator, it had rechargable battery, many functions, such as square root and others I did not understand. It was in 1974, and weight was about a pound.
The "Adding Machine" was 120 volt, about 1/2 the width of our typewriter, and to multiply, you actually added the numbers. So 565 X 22 was done by adding 565 twice, then hitting the 0 and adding 5650 to that total twice.
If the multiplication was 565 X 333 then you add 565 three times, hit the 0 and add 5650 three times, then hit the 0 and add 56500 three times for a grand total that came out on the tape display. It did work, and only took a couple of minutes. Much more accurate than the "Guessing stick" or slide rule.
Fred.
