“ Young John, a math whiz, calculated the change in his father’s grocery store without using the cash register.” This was common in any store in that time peri

“ Young John, a math whiz, calculated the change in his father’s grocery store without using the cash register.” This was common in any store in that time period. I worked in a popular shop in England in 1981 and the cash register did not calculate change IIRC. This is still common in small shops. Not sure why the NY Times thinks basic arithmetic is hard.