My wife's uncle bought a reconditioned calculator for $300.

A friend got an electric hand held for a collage graduation present, and our seed corn company rented one.

Back in the day, those were the 'cats meow'.

I remember the old punch card days in college. Some of the students had hand held calculators and carried them in a leather pouch on there belts. Looked like a small brief case.

Now we can buy them for a dollar.

Had those at the stat lab at ISU.

I had a friend who was in computer science (used to sing "Virgil, quit com sci!"). I used to help him type punch cards. The floor of the computer lab looked like the NY Stock Exchange with all of the cards lying on the floor.

"Do Loops Forever!"

I recall taking a final test at Kansas state university in about 1970. I had a slide rule. The kid next to me had a portable calculator, it was huge compared to what we have these days.

My grandfather didn't need one. I've never seen anyone else able to figure out something in his head, as quickly as that man could. He only had an eight grade education, but in many ways, was the smartest man I have ever known.

We used to do our figuring on the back on an envelope with a lead pencil!

I can remember when practically every farmer carried a lead pencil and a little notebook, a free one that some store or company gave out, in the pocket of their bib overalls. I still have one that belonged to my great grandfather. The pic is of two things that were passed on down to me that belonged to my great grandfather. They are from the late 1800's.

Wow! Thanks James.

Play darts if you want to become adept at adding and subtracting.

Then there were the games with the calculators, 'So many Arabs fought so many Israelis for so many days, who won"?

Upside down SHELLOIL

That was first showed to me by the guy at our Shell station.

I tried that game..... Dad whooped my azz for all the holes in the wall of the bedroom.

First old calculator I ever saw was in seventh grade math class. Actually it was one of those big clunkly adding machines with the big handle on the side.
If you did well enough in class you were rewarded with several minutes playing time on it.

I never got within ten feet of it.