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| "Here's another wonderful piece of
calculating history. This is a Wang Model 360SE Calculating System. Its not just a
calculator, it's a system of calculators. Wang Laboratories, founded by Dr. An Wang as a one-man electronics company in 1951, became famous for revolutionizing electronic calculators by providing higher level math functions which previously were only available on very expensive computer systems. Dr. Wang invented a combination of digital electronic circuits which used a method called 'factor combining' to generate the base e logarithm of any number. (This circuit was patented in 1968). The properties of logarithms make it much easier to perform functions such as square root, raising numbers to powers, and dramatically simplifies multiplication and division via electronic circuits. Using any other method to perform such calculations would have taken far too many components, resulting in a larger and more expensive machine." Rick Bensene Source: Rick Bensene's Old Calculators |