Professor Weber leads off our look at adding and subtracting – math – and the devices old and new that we employ, in this edition of the Evolution of Technology blog series which is co-written by Professor David E. Weber and myself.

We often use the term technology as a catchall shorthand reference to the microprocessor-driven devices (notebook and desktop computers, mobile telephones and smart phones, tablets, iPods and more) we use for work, play and management of our lives generally. The basic purpose of the chips in the hearts of those devices is to perform calculations. Therefore, to think in terms of the evolution of technology is to a significant extent to think about the evolution in tools used for calculating.