The History of Computers - It is considered as the first calculator made for

sale in the market. It could perform addition and

Early computing devices subtraction by means of a set of numerical wheels
• ABACUS linked to each other by gears. This type is being
used in water meters today.
– a counting device. Its name was derived from the
Latin word abakos, which means “calculating
table.” It is a frame with rods and movable beads. It
is considered as the first computer.

• Leibniz calculator
- Stepped reckoner or Leibniz calculator, a
calculating machine, was invented by Gottfried
Leibniz, a German mathematician, in 1673.

• Napier’s Bones - It was a bar-shaped and had a drum rotated with

a crank, a handle used for changing motion or
- A calculating device, was developed by John movement.
Napier, a Scottish mathematician in 1617. It was a
more complex version of the abacus. It had rows - The first calculator that could perform the four
and columns of boxes. Both the boxes on the first mathematical operations.
row and first column were numbered 0 to 9. All
other boxes had numbers, too. These numbers
were answers to mathematical operations, such as
multiplication and division.

• Jacquard weaving loom

• The Slide Rule
- A computing device was developed by William
Oughtred, an English mathematician in 1622. It
looked like a ruler with lines and numbers. It had
strip that one could “slide” from left to right to
perform different mathematical operations, such
as multiplication and division.
- Was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard of Lyon,
France in 1804.
- It made the textile-making process easier than it
was before.
- It could weave patterned silk automatically using
punched cards. These cards had rows of punched
holes. Each row corresponded to a row of the
design of the textile.
- First machine to use punched cards.

• Pascal Calculator
- Pascal calculator or the Pascaline was invented by
Blaise Pascal., a French mathematician and
philosopher, in 1642. He invented it to help his
father with his tax duties.