History of Computers - Analytical Engine

The idea of the Analytical Engine was created in 1837 by Charles Babbage. The Analytical Engine was a mechanical digital computer showed the large

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Overview

The idea of the Analytical Engine was created in 1837 by Charles Babbage. Although Charles Babbage invented the idea he was unable to execute his idea before his death in 1871 because of insufficient funds and materials. The Analytical Engine was anticipated to be one of the first mechanical and digital computer's that would pave the way for future technology and computers. Before Babbage began trying to invent the Analytical Engine he built the Difference Engine. The Difference Engine was an automatic, mechanical calculator, who's purpose was to make a chart of polynomial functions. The Difference Engine ultimately was not completed successfully, yet the failure of the engine caused Babbage to come up with the idea of the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine was different from the Difference Engine because it was an automatic general purpose machine. Therefore it could be manipulated and programmed by the user to follow a series of instructions in any required order.

Both logarithmic and trigonometric functions can be approximated by polynomials, so a difference engine can compute many useful sets of numbers.

External Links

http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Babbage.html

http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/