adding machine
Predecessor to calculators
An adding machine is a mechanical or electronic device designed for arithmetic calculations, especially addition.
Before electronic calculators became cheap and ubiquitous in the 1970s, adding machines were standard office equipment, their keys clacking as clerks tallied figures.
The term now sounds dated, evoking an era of paper tape and manual computation.
Rotary operating handle
- gearsToothed rotating machine parts
- leversForce-multiplying pivot bars
- keysLock-operating instruments
- carriageWheeled passenger vehicle
mechanism · register · counter · paper roll · ribbon · spools · dials · tabulator
Joining quantities mathematically
- subtractionRemoving quantities mathematically
- multiplicationProduct-finding operation
- divisionSplitting into parts
- sumAddition's result
total · digits · numerals · decimal · computation · calculate · tally · tabulate
Financial record book
- bookkeepingRecording financial transactions systematically
- invoicingIssuing payment requests
- auditingExamining records for accuracy
- accounts payableOutstanding debts to suppliers
accounts receivable · balance sheet · reconciliation · debits · credits · trial balance · double-entry · general ledger
Furniture for writing
- secretaryAdministrative office aide
- clerkOffice record-keeper
- typing poolCentralized secretarial workforce
- carbon copyIdentical reproduction of something
filing cabinet · ledger paper · tape · receipt · printout · businesslike · commercial · workplace
crank
Rotary operating handle
carriage · mechanism · register · counter · paper roll · ribbon · spools · dials · tabulator · Burroughs
addition
Joining quantities mathematically
- subtractionRemoving quantities mathematically
- multiplicationProduct-finding operation
- divisionSplitting into parts
sum · total · digits · numerals · decimal · computation · calculate · tally · tabulate · count
ledger
Financial record book
- bookkeepingRecording financial transactions systematically
- invoicingIssuing payment requests
- auditingExamining records for accuracy
accounts payable · accounts receivable · balance sheet · reconciliation · debits · credits · trial balance · double-entry · general ledger · clerk
desk
Furniture for writing
- secretaryAdministrative office aide
- clerkOffice record-keeper
- typing poolCentralized secretarial workforce
carbon copy · filing cabinet · ledger paper · tape · receipt · printout · businesslike · commercial · workplace · bank
- Calculatorspocket calculator, scientific calculator, graphing calculator, basic calculator, desk calculator
- Analog Eratypewriter, rotary phone, record player, phonograph, turntable
- math toolscalculator, abacus, graphing calculator, scientific calculator, straightedge
- midcentury technologytransistor radio, color TV, rotary phone, tape recorder, record player
- office equipmentprinter, printers, copier, copiers, scanner
- office itemsdesk, chair, filing cabinet, lamp, pen
adding machinesupercomputer
Ultra-powerful computing system
quantum computer · computer · mainframe · artificial intelligence · personal computer
adding machinemental arithmetic
Computing numbers without tools
mental math · pen and paper · intuition · estimation · guesswork
machine, added, adding, additional, additive, addendum, adder, addenda, addend