# Pocket calculators: Gibberish on display

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pocket-calculators-gibberish-on-display/122404>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 5, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pocket-calculators-gibberish-on-display/122404 "2002-08-05T07:18:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pocket-calculators-gibberish-on-display/122404/1 "2002-08-05T07:18:16Z")

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I’ve had a Sharp calculator for more than ten years now. It works fine (it’s “solar powered”), but one thing baffles me: When I get ready to use it and open its plastic cover, stiffened much like a book cover, the display line shows gibberish–numbers, symbols, and parts of numbers on the LCD display. If I’ve just let it sit for a day or more (sometimes open, sometimes closed, it doesn’t matter), why will it start to display stuff like that all by itself?