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Tally Stick: Upper Paleolithic Ishango Bone Pliny The Elder Marco Polo
Tally Stick: Upper Paleolithic Ishango Bone Pliny The Elder Marco Polo
was an ancient
memory aid device
used to record and
document numbers,
quantities, or even
messages. Tally
sticks first appear as
animal bones carved with notches, in theUpper
Paleolithic; a notable example is the Ishango Bone.
Historical reference is made by Pliny the Elder (AD 23
79) about the best wood to use for tallies, and by Marco
Polo (12541324) who mentions the use of the tally in
China. Tallies have been used for numerous purposes
such as messaging and scheduling, and especially in
financial and legal transactions, to the point of
beingcurrency.
ANTIKYTHERA
is an ancient analog
computer[1][2][3][4]designed to
predict astronomical positio
ns
and eclipses for calendrica
l andastrological purposes,
[5][6][7]
as well as
the Olympiads, the cycles
of theancient Olympic Games.[8]
Found housed in a 340 mm 180 mm
90 mm wooden box, the device is a
complex clockwork mechanism composed of
at least 30 meshing bronzegears. Its remains
were found as 82 separate fragments, of
which only seven contain any gears or
significant inscriptions.[9][10] The largest gear
(clearly visible in Fragment A at right) is
approximately 140 mm in diameter and
originally had 223 teeth.
ZEUS Z3
In 1940 Z2 was
successfully
demonstrated to
the Deutschen
Versuchsanstalt
fr Luftfahrt and
Zuse obtained
partially funding
for the
development of
his third
computer, Z3,
which he began to
build in 1939. Z3 (see the lower photo) was ready in the
spring of 1941, and in May, 1941, it was presented to the
scientists in Berlin. Z3 and was built completely out of relays
(600 for the arithmetic unit, 1400 for the memory and 400
for the control unit). In all other aspects it was similar to Z1
and Z2: it used binary numeral system and floating-point
numbers, a floating-point arithmetic unit with two 22-bit
registers, storage capacity of 64 words with 22 bit word
length, control via 8-channel tape (i.e., a command consisted
of 8 bits). The input was via a special keyboard. Output by
displaying the results on light stripe including the location of
the decimal commas. It was a little bit faster5,33 Hz. The
principle of work of the machine however, was improved,