#Chinese wooden abacus series

ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer).Some of the popular first generation computers are Magnetic tape and paper tape were used as output and input devices in this generation These computers were mainly depended on batch operating system and punch cards. In these computers, vacuum tubes were used as the basic components of CPU and memory. The first generation (1946-1959) computers were slow, huge and expensive. There are five generations of computers which are described below First Generation Computers The miniaturization helped increase the speed, memory and power of computers. In each new generation, the circuits became smaller and more advanced than the previous generation circuits. It replaced the gears and other mechanical parts used for counting in previous computing machines. In 1946, electronic pathways called circuits were developed to perform the counting. Generations of ComputersĪ generation of computers refers to the specific improvements in computer technology with time. It was the first programmable digital computer. In 1944, Mark I computer was built as a partnership between IBM and Harvard. The next major changes in the history of computer began in 1937 when Howard Aiken planned to develop a machine that could perform calculations involving large numbers. It could do 25 calculations in few minutes. This machine has vacuum tubes to switch electrical signals to perform calculations. It was an analog device invented by Vannevar Bush. It was the first electronic computer introduced in the United States in 1930. Hollerith also started the Hollerith?s Tabulating Machine Company which later became International Business Machine (IBM) in 1924. It could tabulate statistics and record or sort data or information. It was a mechanical tabulator based on punch cards. It was invented in 1890, by Herman Hollerith, an American statistician. It was capable of solving any mathematical problem and storing information as a permanent memory. It was a mechanical computer that used punch-cards as input. This calculating machine was also developed by Charles Babbage in 1830. It was a steam driven calculating machine designed to solve tables of numbers like logarithm tables. It was a mechanical computer which could perform simple calculations. In the early 1820s, it was designed by Charles Babbage who is known as 'Father of Modern Computer'. See the following image Difference Engine It was a digital mechanical calculator which was called the stepped reckoner as instead of gears it was made of fluted drums. He improved Pascal's invention to develop this machine. It was developed by a German mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz in 1673. An image of this tool is shown below Stepped Reckoner or Leibnitz wheel

#Chinese wooden abacus series

A series of windows is given on the top of the wheels to read the totals.

When a wheel is rotated one revolution, it rotates the neighboring wheel. It was a wooden box with a series of gears and wheels. It could only perform addition and subtraction. Pascal invented this machine to help his father, a tax accountant. It is believed that it was the first mechanical and automatic calculator.

It was invented between 16 by a French mathematician-philosopher Biaise Pascal. Pascaline is also known as Arithmetic Machine or Adding Machine.

It was also the first machine to use the decimal point. So, the tool became known as 'Napier's Bones. In this calculating tool, he used 9 different ivory strips or bones marked with numbers to multiply and divide. It was a manually-operated calculating device which was invented by John Napier (1550-1617) of Merchiston. An image of this tool is shown below Napier's Bones Abacus is still used in some countries like China, Russia and Japan. The beads were moved by the abacus operator according to some rules to perform arithmetic calculations. It was a wooden rack which has metal rods with beads mounted on them. It is said that Chinese invented Abacus around 4,000 years ago. The history of computer begins with the birth of abacus which is believed to be the first computer. Some of the popular computing devices starting with the first to recent ones are described below Abacus As human mind and technology improved with time more computing devices were developed. They used sticks, stones and bones as counting tools. The first counting device was used by the primitive people.