---
title: "Pocket Calculator Goes Mass Market"
year: 1971
country: "Japan"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1971/pocket-calculator-mass-market"
slug: "pocket-calculator-mass-market"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1971-01-01"
---

# Pocket Calculator Goes Mass Market

> Japanese manufacturers released affordable handheld calculators, rapidly obsoleting slide rules and mechanical computing and democratizing mathematical computation.

## Summary

A calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.

## Sources

- [Pocket calculator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator) - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1971/pocket-calculator-mass-market