How Calculators Work There was probably times when the most complicated calculations people required to perform could have been done with their fingers and toes. Today it's virtually impossible for most people to imagine working on anything that involves numberssuch as math homework to tax returns to tipping servers in restaurants without the assistance of at least a basic pocket calculator. Indeed, electronic calculators are so widespread now that it's hard to believe they didn't become ubiquitous until the last decade of the 20 century. century. Before the invention of the modern calculator the people were using other tools for computation. The abacus , for example, is one ancestor of the calculator. Most likely of Babylonian origin, early abaci were believed to have been boards that had the position of counters stood for numerical values. However, the current abacus -- which many people still use within China, Japan and the Middle East -- works by moving beads t...
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