The Hewlett-Packard 9100A (hp 9100A) is an early

programmable calculator Programmable calculators are calculators that can automatically carry out a sequence of operations under control of a stored computer programming, program. Most are Turing complete, and, as such, are theoretically general-purpose computers. Howe ...

(or computer), first appearing in 1968. HP called it a desktop calculator because, as

Bill Hewlett William Redington Hewlett ( ; May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001) was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). Early life and education Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his ...

said, "If we had called it a computer, it would have been rejected by our customers' computer gurus because it didn't look like an IBM. We therefore decided to call it a calculator, and all such nonsense disappeared." An ad for the 9100A in 1968 ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' magazine contains one of the earliest documented use (as of 2000) of the phrase

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

History

The unit was descended from a prototype produced by engineer Thomas "Tom" E. Osborne, who joined the company when HP decided to adopt the project. An engineering triumph at the time, the logic circuit was produced without any

integrated circuit An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...

s, the assembly of the CPU having been entirely executed in discrete components. With CRT readout, magnetic card storage, and printer, the price was around . The 9100A was the first scientific calculator by the modern definition, ''i.e.'', capable of trigonometric,

logarithm In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse function to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a number to the base is the exponent to which must be raised, to produce . For example, since , the ''logarithm base'' 10 o ...

ic (log/ln), and exponential functions, and was the beginning of Hewlett-Packard's long history of using

Reverse Polish notation Reverse Polish notation (RPN), also known as reverse Łukasiewicz notation, Polish postfix notation or simply postfix notation, is a mathematical notation in which operators ''follow'' their operands, in contrast to Polish notation (PN), in whi ...

(RPN) entry on their calculators. Due to the similarities of the machines, Hewlett-Packard was ordered to pay about in royalties to

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been part of ...

after copying some of the solutions adopted in the

Programma 101 The Olivetti Programma 101, also known as Perottina or P101, is one of the first "all in one" commercial desktop programmable calculators, although not the first. Produced by Italian manufacturer Olivetti, based in Ivrea, Piedmont, and invented by ...

, like the magnetic card and the architecture.

References

External links

* Hosted at the Computer History Museum. * *
Steven Leibson interview of Tom Osborne
{{Compu-hardware-stub 9100a

History

See also

References

External links