Old Calculator Museum Advertising & Documentation Archive
Advertisement for the early Mathatronics Mathatron 8-48 , July, 1966
Thanks to Mr. Takaharu Yoshida for providing the scan of this advertisement
This advertisement shows the introductory model Mathatronics Mathatron 8-48
calculator.
It should be made clear here that the early history of the Mathatron calculators
was first started by the original Model 4-24 and 8-48 calculators.
These initial machines were sold without advanced
mathematical functions and were capable of addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, and square root. Shortly after introduction,
options were made available that provided additional advanced math
calculations through the addition of read-only memory (ROM)-based programs
that carried out the advanced operations using the basic functions of the
calculator. Upgraded machines had hard-wired (magnetic core-based ROM)
programs with added keys on the keyboard for each advanced math function.
Later, the power on/off, and the operation mode rotary
switches were replaced with pushbuttons which made the machine a little
easier to operate. Standardized advanced math models were
introduced for specific mathematical disciplines, providing three different
upgraded models which catered to differing mathematical needs.
The M option provided advance mathematical functions such as logarithms
and raising numbers to powers. The S option provided statistical math
functions, and the C option provided Civil Engineering functions. Custom ROM
programs were also developed for some customers to perform various mixes
of advanced math functions, or even complete unique customer-tailored
hard-wired programs for more complex operations.
The calculator shown above is a base model Mathatron 8-48 (8 Memory
Registers, 48 Program Steps). Compare the image of this machine with the Mathatronics 8-48M Model II exhibited in the museum to see the obvious differences between the earlier and
later-design Mathatron calculators.
