The long, long history of the calculator starts with centuries of mechanical engineering, but in the 1960s, a shift began. The advent of the transistor suddenly allowed the humble calculator to leap forward into the digital age, but in a way that seems almost completely alien compared to the pocket calculators (much less smartphones) of today. Clifford Stoll of Numberphile offers a mesmerizing tour of one of these early machines, the Friden EC-132. With a bevy of enormous (by modern standards) transistors and an ocilloscope screen, the Friden EC-132 is a strange and ingenious device, specifically the way in which it uses a coiled piano wire and a small microphone as an acoustic storage mechanism. View full post on YoutubeI just have one question: What happens when it tries to divide by zero? Related StoriesWhy Dividing by 0 Makes a Mechanical Calc Flip Out11 Calculators Show How Far Computing Has ComeSource: Numberphile
