ETYM Latin: cf. French calculateur.
Broadly, any device that performs arithmetic operations on numbers. Sophisticated calculators can be programmed for certain functions and can store values in memory, but they differ from computers in several ways: they have a fixed set of commands, they do not recognize text, they cannot retrieve values stored in a data file, and they cannot find and use values generated by a program such as a spreadsheet.
Pocket-sized electronic computing device for performing numerical calculations. It can add, subtract, multiply, and divide; many calculators also compute squares and roots and have advanced trigonometric and statistical functions. Input is by a small keyboard and results are shown on a one-line computer screen, typically a liquid-crystal display (LCD) or a light-emitting diode (LED). The first electronic calculator was manufactured by the Bell Punch Company in the US 1963.
1. A small machine for mathematical calculations; SYN. calculating machine.
2. An expert at calculation (or at operating calculating machines); SYN. reckoner, figurer, estimator, computer.