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Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Printable Version

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Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - zeno - 09-17-2006

It was not the HP9100A....

Also, what month and year did it come out for public sale??


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Steve S - 09-17-2006

I'm going to guess that it was the LOCI-1, issued by Wang Labs in the latter half of 1964...


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - zeno - 09-18-2006

Quote:
I'm going to guess that it was the LOCI-1, issued by Wang Labs in the latter half of 1964...

No, but good answer anyway...

The Wang LOCI-1 did not have both log functions and trig functions...I am referring to one that had log and Trig functions together.


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Kalevipoeg - 09-18-2006

My guess is the soviet calculator EDVM


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - zeno - 09-18-2006

Quote:
My guess is the soviet calculator EDVM

Nope, that came out 3 years after the first one.


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Steve S - 09-18-2006

...Not so fast there, Zeno!

All you asked for was "transcendental functionS" (Cap "S" mine).

Since the LOCI-1 also did mutiplication and division by logs, I submit that it did, in fact, do transcendental functionS (...just not the ones we might usually think of...).


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - GE - 09-25-2006

Sooo, what was the expected answer to that question ?

I suspect you are not getting more tries at answering it.


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Eric Smith - 09-26-2006

Well, we give up. What's your answer?


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Ken C - 09-26-2006

I did some programming on the Wang 500 series in 1971 specifically for the trancendential functions including trig and log. I seem to recall that most of the functions iterated only to 6 places and we needed at least 9. The little hp35 had the functions with enough precision, but was not programmable.


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Katie Wasserman - 09-26-2006

Hmm... I've got a Wang 520 sitting here and it seems to be at least as accurate as the HP-35 for log and trig functions. It computes everything to 10 digits and compares quite well with the 32SII. (However, I have to admit that the inverse trig functions on this particular machine don't work -- there's a broken ROM wire in there somewhere.) It's my favorite (non-HP) calculator!


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Ken C - 09-27-2006

Problem was not in the number of digits displayed but the actual accuracy in generating the trans functions. I just don't remember how the Wang stacked up.
Since the question of oldest desktop does not preclude analog computing or accuracy, then there are several slide rule candidates for the first trig/log calculator such as K&E's TrigLogLog which I still own [gr&d].


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Paul Dale - 09-27-2006

Babbage's difference engine?


- Pauli


Re: Quiz-What was the 1st desktop calc with Transcendental functions?? - Kalevipoeg - 09-28-2006

or "Mirifici Logarithmorum canonis descriptio" by John Napier, 1614 ?