Whenever one of the editors needed to crunch some numbers (to calculate the increase in first-year enrolment, for example, or the deficit in a faculty’s budget), they would borrow the device. For most of us, mental arithmetic wasn’t quite as easy as it had been back in primary school, our skills having grown rusty from lack of practice. And, as so often happens with borrowed items, the calculator didn’t always make its way back to its home – much to the annoyance of its rightful owner, who would then raise her voice to demand it back rather than searching our often-cluttered desks for it.
When did this trusty companion fall out of favour? Most likely it was when mobile phones began to come with calculator apps. Or perhaps it was the computer that took over its role. Either way, it ended up in a drawer, and when it resurfaced this summer, it refused to come back to life. Someone slapped a sticker on it saying “Broken?!”
Yes, it appears the calculator has died after years of faithful service. If you would like a memento of the good old days – and happen to be handy with tiny solar panels – you’re welcome to come and pick it up.