After 40 Years, Calculators in School Still Add Up to Debate (1/2)

Can you do the math: What is one hundred times four, divided by the square root of a hundred? If you know that, then you know the answer to this: How many years ago did three scientists at Texas Instruments invent the handheld electronic calculator?

The answer is forty. The scientists were Jerry Merryman, James Van Tassel and Jack Kilby. Their first device could add, subtract" class="hjdict" word="subtract" target=_blank>subtract, multiply and divide. It had twelve bytes of memory -- close to nothing compared to today's powerful calculators. And it weighed more than a kilogram.

But it was powered by batteries. That meant it could be taken anywhere. Other electronic calculators had to be plugged into electricity. Not only that, they weighed close to twenty-five kilograms and were almost as big as typewriters.

In the United States, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics says teachers at every level should support the use of calculators. Students are even permitted to use them when they take college entrance tests. That may surprise parents who still think of the days of paper-and-pencil only.

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你会做数学吗：100乘4除以100的平方根是多少呢？如果你知道，那么你就知道下面这个问题的答案：德州仪器的三位科学家在多少年前发明了便携式电子计算器。

答案是40。（三位）科学家是Jerry Merryman、James Van Tassel 和Jack Kilby。他们的第一款装置可以进行加、减、乘、除运算。它（计算器）具有12个字节的存储器，这与当今高效计算器相比等于没有（存储器），且其重量超过1公斤。

但是，其由电池供能。这意味着可以携带它到任何地方。而其他电子计算器必须插电。不仅如此，那些计算器重达25公斤且和一台打字机一样大。

在美国，国家数学教学委员会说各个年级的老师应该支持使用计算器。学生甚至被允许在参加大学入学考试时使用计算器。这也许会使那些仍认为现在是纸笔时代的家长感到惊奇。