Calculator: meaning, definitions and examples

Used in everyday situations, schools, offices, and homes to perform basic to complex mathematical computations.

• He used the calculator to check his math homework
• She always keeps a small calculator in her purse just in case

A broad term that can refer to any electronic device capable of performing computations, including modern computers, smartphones, tablets, and dedicated calculators.

• He used his smartphone as a computing device to solve the problem
• Engineers rely on powerful computing devices for simulations

Often found in older offices or for accounting tasks that require printing a physical record of transactions, mainly for addition and subtraction.

• The accountant still prefers to use the adding machine for balancing books
• The old adding machine was kept in the back room with paper rolls

A historical calculating device used during the 19th and early 20th centuries, mostly for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

• The museum exhibit featured an arithmometer from the 1800s
• Historians study the arithmometer as an early tool in the evolution of calculators