Gabi GoldbergThis article was written by Gabi Goldberg. A grade 10 pupil who loves writing and thinking outside the box...

"The square root of what?”

calculator

Ever punch in a math sum and wonder just who invented the calculator? Well this invention certainly wasn’t as simple as 1+1! The calculator, often completely disregarded by all, is one of the handiest and most used devices today.

Scottish mathematician and physicist John Napier first designed Napier's bones, an abacus-like device used for multiplication and division. Then William Oughtred, of Cambridge, came along and invented the slide rule in the 1620s. Using this rule, functions such as multiplication and division could be performed at a much quicker pace. It was 3 years later that some believe Wilhelm Schickard created the first known mechanical calculator.

Charles Babbage created the difference engine in 1822, and after many people tweaked this design, the rudimentary scientific calculator was born.

The invention of the calculator soon led to the creation of the computer.

It’s a wonder where we would be without this extraordinary device (which is a simple looking piece of equipment) that can calculate long and complicated math sums that we shudder to do ourselves.

So remember not to disregard the calculator the next time you reach over and punch in a calculation that you could probably do in your head!