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Was the HP-9100A the very first calculator or computing device of any manufacturer to automatically do Transcendentals (Trig, Log, Exp functions) ?

Bob

As far as I know, the first solid state desktop calculator that had transcendental functions was the Mathatronics Mathatron 8-48M introduced in 1964
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/c-math8-48m.html

The Wang tel:320/360/362K series introduced in 1965-1966 also had transcendental functions.
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wang360.html

The Olivetti Programma 101 introduced in 1965 was programmable with magnetic card storage very much like the HP-9100A.
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/c-programma101.html

These all predate the HP-9100A by 3 years or so.

Even earlier the 5 ton behemoth Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) or Harvard Mark I (1944) however it did not have a keyboard, input came from punch cards and paper tape and output was printed on a modified electric typewriter or punched into cards. Later IBM built the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) (1948) which used many more electronic circuits than ASCC, the SSEC is reputed to have been able to handle more complex math than ENIAC. Both of these machines did transcendental functions using lookup tables.

In theory any computing machinery could do transcendental functions, the only difference is it is a program calling the function instead of the function being invoked by pressing a key.

Very interesting! Thanks,
Bob

(04-13-2014 10:51 PM)Steve Simpkin Wrote: [ -> ]The Wang tel:320/360/362K series introduced in 1965-1966 also had transcendental functions.
http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wang360.html

Quote:Wang invented a combination of digital electronic circuits (patented in 1968) that used a method called "factor combining" to generate the base e logarithm of any number.

Other sources claim that "logic circuits requiring fewer than 300 transistors" were used.

Does anybody know how this worked?

Thanks in advance
Thomas