The Blog of Harald

There was a question in Ronnie’s homework today. “Look at the numerals on a digital clock. What can you use to check your adding that has the same kind of numbers?” The answer is supposed to be “a calculator”, however, Ronnie has almost never used a calculator. In fact, I couldn’t even find one to show him.

—ReidNews

My house is the same; what’s a calculator? I’ve got two old HP scientific calculators in a box somewhere, but I doubt they still have batteries. On the other hand, I’ve got more than one software calculator on each computer, two palm pilots, and two cell phones; why would I *need* a single-purpose calculator?

I remember my very first calculator. It was huge. I won it in a machine at the CNE in Toronto, in the late 1970s. It had an LED display and four functions (I don’t even think it had a ‘memory’). How far we’ve come…