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J. Clarke[_2_]

In article >,
says...
>
> Michael wrote on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:51:25 -0700 (PDT):
>
> > On Oct 19, 6:17 am, "Julie Bove" > wrote:
> >> "Ophelia" > wrote in message
> >>
> >> Could be. I am old enough that I remember when calculators
> >> came out. They were very expensive. We were never allowed
> >> to have them in school. These days they are a requirement.
> >>
> >> My first calculator was a solar one. It required very strong
> >> light to use it. Bought another one a couple of years later
> >> that works even in dim light. I still have it but it's
> >> starting to look decrepit. Still works though.
>
> > I remember when the first calculators became available in the
> > early 70's. A friend of my dad's brought his new calculator
> > over to show it off. This calculator cost 800 dollars (this
> > was in 1971 dollars), and all it did was added, subtracted,
> > multiplied, divided, and gave the square root.
>
> When I was growing up in Scotland, there was a peculiar state
> requirement that we had to have a pass in Arithmetic for a High School
> certificate. Since the exam could not be taken until the fifth year of a
> six-year Scottish High School, we had a weekly lesson in Arithmetic with
> home work to keep us in practice. Those of us taking advanced math and
> science used to (unfairly) despise the class and would turn in work
> calculated with a slide rule, which irritated the teacher immensely I
> remember a five minute lecture on the iniquity of giving an answer as,
> say, £ 1.581 instead of the expected £1, 11 shillings and 7 pence
> ha'penny. You know, I can't even remember how to write that answer in
> the old currency!

Dunno if you've looked at the current generation of calculators. The
things are effing _amazing_. Ask it for the integral of some horrible
function and it comes out not with a number but with the algebraic
function.