Good morning, friends. 


9 April 2024
When I was in high school, as I recall, we didn't have battery operated calculators. I'm not sure that they were a thing back then. Hmmm ... I need to look that up. ... Here's what I found out, the first battery operated portable calculator, the QT-8B was marketed by Sharp in mid-1970 (1). It was too large to be considered a pocket calculator and the cost was $495 (2), which is the equivalent of about $4K today. So, as you can imagine, we did all calculations by hand. There were slide rules and I suppose the abacus counts as well. There were mechanical calculators, and we were taught how to use them along with typewriters, in a Business Machines class.
"I am so old, I entered engineering school with a slide rule. And I left engineering school with a calculator. I can still use a slide rule but it's not a skill you especially need anymore". - Bill Nye