Is super-accuracy matters?

[Matt Agajanian]

Hi all.

All posts here represent a fascinating read. But it begs a few questions:

If computers or supercomputers with hundreds of digits of accuracy are needed for some scientific disciplines, why would you use a calculator at all? Doesn’t all this discussion mean that any calculator from anyone—Sharp, Casio, Canon, TI and others even, dare I say, HP, just a toy, inadequate, and even obsolete? So, why would you use a calculator anyway?

If all this discussion results in the idea that high (maybe not in the realm of super-accuracy) is of critical importance, how was it that from a lower level of accuracy that was obtainable from 60s and 70s computer technology, the rockets that took astronauts to the moon and outer space possible? What about how medical, structural engineering, pharmaceutical, electrical engineering, etc. and other sciences were subject to the limitations of accuracy from 60s/70s computers?

How usable and reliable were mathematics of those eras given computing limitations??