The hidden monopoly behind your graphing calculator

The same calculator has been on most kids’ back to school shopping list since the early 2000s. And the dominance of Texas Instruments’ calculator division goes back even farther. David Pierce is joined by The Verge’s Nilay Patel and Victoria Song to tell the story of the calculator, and how one company managed to take over the market and never let it go. 0:00 Cold Open 1:31 Meet the Hosts & Their Calculators 4:20 A Brief History of Calculators 8:17 Calculators before TI's 15:45 TI's First Calculator (1972) 20:04 The Classroom Calculator Debate 21:45 The Graphing Calculator Era Begins 26:11 Calculator Games: Tetris & Drug Wars 31:03 Building the TI Monopoly 38:00 Profit Margins & No Competitors 42:29 Is the Calculator Still Needed? 46:18 The New TI-84 Evo 52:05 Version History Questions 1:03:32 Hall of Fame Debate 1:12:52 The Verdict Follow Version History on TikTok: @versionhistorypodcast Follow Version History on Instagram: @versionhistorypodcast Subscribe: http://goo.gl/G5RXGs Like The Verge on Facebook: https://goo.gl/2P1aGc Follow on Instagram: https://goo.gl/7ZeLvX Follow on TikTok: http://bit.ly/42VeCVU Watch The Vergecast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/40RFRkg The Vergecast Podcast: https://bit.ly/3WQDexZ Decoder with Nilay Patel: http://apple.co/3v29nDc More about our podcasts: https://www.theverge.com/podcasts Read More: http://www.theverge.com Community guidelines: http://bit.ly/2D0hlAv Wallpapers from The Verge: https://bit.ly/2xQXYJr Shop our Verge merch store here: https://bit.ly/4kPCmEc If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may receive a commission without exerting any influence on editorial content. For more information about our ethics policy, visit: https://bit.ly/3ZWTlLs