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Detailed explanation-1: -Jerry Merryman, one of the inventors of the handheld electronic calculator, died Feb. 27 at a Dallas hospital. He was 86. The cause was complications of heart and kidney failure, said his stepdaughter, Kim Ikovic.

Detailed explanation-2: -The first handheld calculator was a 1967 prototype called Cal Tech, whose development was led by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments in a research project to produce a portable calculator. It could add, multiply, subtract, and divide, and its output device was a paper tape.

Detailed explanation-3: -A calculator seemed just the thing. In a mere two years, a TI group including Jerry Merryman and James Van Tassel, and led by Jack Kilbydeveloped a calculator small enough to be held in your hand.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1957, the Model 14-A, released by Casio, came onto the scene-a mostly electric calculator that utilized relay technology and was built into a desk. The first solid state electronic calculator became available in the early 1960s, though pocket-size calculators were not available to the public until the 1970s.