Maybe? My father is old enough to have used a slide rule unironically, but he had a calculator as of the 1960s in Canada (not LCD, mind). That's about three generations' worth of adults with some calculator access in North America, plus or minus socioeconomic reach. Simple ones are somewhat cheaper now than they were during the 1980s (for me in California), though they weren't "expensive" then either: much more within household reach than the cheapest mobile phone plan is now.
I agree with all of the rest of your comment--I'm only reluctant to lean on tech availability as a premise.
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Date: 2015-01-24 08:08 pm (UTC)I agree with all of the rest of your comment--I'm only reluctant to lean on tech availability as a premise.