You're probably used to the idea that your computer screen makes letters and numbers using a tiny grid of dots called pixels. Early computers used just a few pixels and looked very dotty and grainy, but a modern LCD screen uses millions of pixels and is almost as clear and sharp as a printed book. Calculators, however, remain stuck in the dark ages—or the early 1970s, to be precise. Look closely at the digits on a calculator and you'll see each one is made from a different pattern of seven bars or segments. The processor chip knows it can display any of the numbers 0-9 by activating a different combination of these seven segments. It can't easily display letters, though some scientific calculators (more advanced electronic calculators with lots of built into mathematical and scientific formulae) do have a go