Calculator

A calculator is a device for performing arithmetical operations, such as addition or multiplication. Most present-day calculators are electronic devices, but the first calculators were mechanical. One of the first calculators was designed by Blaise Pascal.

Later, electromechanical calculators were constructed. Electronic calculators, first using vacuum tubes, then transistors, and finally integrated circuits ("chips"), have become small, cheap devices, that often have many of the capabilities of a full-fledged computer.