NIKKI and KATH

   

An abacus is a device used for addition and subtraction, and the related operations of multiplication and division. It does not require the use of pen and paper, and it's good for any base number system. There are two basic forms for the abacus: a specially marked flat surface used with counters (counting table), or a frame with beads strung on wires (bead frame).

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Napier's Bones

Napier's bones were multiplication tables written on strips of wood or bones. The invention was used for multiplying, dividing, and taking square roots and cube roots. Napier's bones were invented by John Napier (1550-1617), a Scottish mathematician and scientist. They help you to do multiplication. There are 9 different 'bones' or strips with numbers on.

John Napier was a Scottish nobleman who is best known for his invention of logarithms. However he also invented several other devices to simplify multiplication and division. One of these he called "rabdologia" but they were usually simply known as "Napier's Bones" because the better quality sets were made from ivory or bone.

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PASCALINE

Pascaline is  called Arithmetic Machine,the first calculator or adding machine to be produced in any quantity and actually used. The Pascaline was designed and built by the French mathematician-philosopher Blaise Pascal between 1642 and 1644. It could only do addition and subtraction, with numbers being entered by manipulating its dials. Pascal invented the machine for his father, a tax collector, so it was the first business machine too (if one does not count the abacus). He built 50 of them over the next 10 years.

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SLIDE RULE

William Oughtred made the first slide rule by inscribing logarithms on wood or ivory. Before the invention of the pocket or handheld calculator, the slide rule was a popular tool for calculations. The use of slide rules continued until about 1974, after which electronic calculator became more popular.

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Wilhelm Schickard

Schickard is noted as a father of the computing era, as he pioneered the mechanical calculating era with his Calculating Clock. Schickard also contributed significantly to the field of astronomy through his correspondence with Kepler. In addition to his direct contributions, Schickard's machine was a precursor to more advanced and eventually electrical calculating machines.


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Leibniz Wheel

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (also known as von Leibniz) was a prominent German mathematician, philosopher, physicist and statesman. Noted for his independent invention of the differential and integral calculus, Gottfried Leibniz remains one of the greatest and most influential meta physicians  thinkers and logicians in history. He also invented the Leibniz wheel and suggested important theories about force, energy and time.


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PUNCH CARDS

The use of punch cards for data processing played an important role in the early history of computers. It comes as a surprise that punch-card computer technology can be traced by to semi-automatic looms developed in France in the late 18th century.

Punch cards were essential to early computing, from the 1920's through the 1950's. The cards were used for data entry, storage and processing. Beginning in the late 1970's, however, this crucial early computing technology was rendered obsolete by the new medium of magnetic storage.



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Babbage’s Difference

Babbage began in 1822 with what he called the difference engine, made to compute values of POLYNOMIAL FUNCTIONS. It was created to calculate a series of values automatically. By using the method of FINITE DIFFERENCES, it was possible to avoid the need for multiplication and division.

For a prototype difference engine, Babbage brought in JOSEPH CLEMENT to implement the design, in 1823. Clement worked to high standards, but his MACHINE TOOLS were particularly elaborate. Under the standard terms of business of the time, he could charge for their construction, and would also own them. He and Babbage fell out over costs around 1831.