Editing Wang Laboratories (section)

===Calculators===
The [[Wang LOCI-2]]<ref name="Bensene_2013">{{cite web |author-first=Rick |author-last=Bensene |title=Wang LOCI-2 |date=2013-08-31 |orig-year=1997 |work=Old Calculator Web Museum |location=Beavercreek, Oregon City, Oregon, USA |url=http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html |access-date=2016-01-03}}</ref><ref name="Wang_1967_LOCI"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_334290 |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=National Museum of American History |language=en}}</ref> (Logarithmic Computing Instrument) desktop calculator<ref name="Bensene_2004">{{cite web |author-first=Rick |author-last=Bensene |title=Wang Model 360SE Calculator System |date=2004-10-23 |orig-year=1997 |work=Old Calculator Web Museum |location=Beavercreek, Oregon City, Oregon, USA |url=http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wang360.html |access-date=2016-01-03}}</ref> (the earlier [[Wang LOCI-1|LOCI-1]]<ref>{{citation |publisher=[[Wang Laboratories, Inc.]] |title=Extend your Personal Computing Power with the new LOCI-1 Logarithmic Computing Instrument |date=1964 |pages=2–3 |url=http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/a-loci1br-23.html |access-date=2016-01-03}}</ref> in September 1964 was not a real product) was introduced in January 1965. Using ''[[factor combining]]'', it was the first [[desktop calculator]] capable of computing [[logarithm]]s, which was quite an achievement for a machine without any [[integrated circuit]]s.<ref name="Wang Ad 1966">{{Citation | last = Wang Laboratories | title = Now you can determine Copolymer Composition in a few minutes at your desk | journal = Analytical Chemistry | volume = 38 | issue = 13 | pages = 62A–63A | date = December 1966 | doi = 10.1021/ac50155a005 }}</ref> The electronics included 1,275 discrete [[transistor]]s. It performed multiplication by adding logarithms, and roundoff in the display conversion was noticeable: 2 × 2 yielded 3.999999999.

From 1965 to about 1971, Wang was a well-regarded calculator company. The dollar price of Wang calculators<ref>a used calculator for sale in 1977: {{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
   |date=October 10, 1977 |page=82
   |title=Wang 700 Programmable Calculator
   |quote=with 701 output typewriter}}</ref> was in the mid-four-figures.<ref>{{US$|3000}} to {{US$|6000}}</ref> They used [[Nixie tube]] readouts, performed [[transcendental function]]s, had varying degrees of [[Programmable calculator|programmability]], and used [[magnetic core memory]]. The 200 and 300 calculator models were available as time-shared simultaneous (SE) packages that<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/wang.htm |title=Wang Calculators |access-date=March 1, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104164535/http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/wang.htm |archive-date=November 4, 2011 }}</ref> had a central processing unit the size of a small suitcase connected by cables leading to four individual desktop display/keyboard units. Competition included [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]], which introduced the [[Hewlett-Packard 9100A|HP 9100A]] in 1968, and old-line calculator companies such as [[Monroe Calculator Company|Monroe]] and [[Marchant Calculator|Marchant]].

Wang calculators were at first sold to scientists and engineers, but the company later became established in financial services industries, which had relied on complicated printed tables for mortgages and annuities.

In 1971, Wang believed that calculators would become unprofitable low-margin [[commodity|commodities]] and decided to leave the calculator business within a few years.{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=53}}