INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION

TECHNOLOGY 7

LESSON: COMPUTER

Most Essential Learning Competencies

Familiarize with the different devices used before the computers.

Specific Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, the learners will be able to:
 Explain the early beginnings of the computing
 Explain how the mechanical computer works
 Identify the early machines invented for computing
Student’s Name: _________________________________________________
2

WEEK 1 – DAY 1

What do you know!

COMPUTERS.
A computer is a machine that can be
instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic
or logical operations automatically via
computer programming. Modern computers
have the ability to follow generalized sets of
operations, called programs. These programs
enable computers to perform an extremely
wide range of tasks

In your own opinion.

I. What do you think are the advantages of using computers? List at least 5.

1. __________________________________________________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________________________________________________

4. __________________________________________________________________________________________

5. __________________________________________________________________________________________

II. If there’s an advantages of using it. There is also a dis-advantages. What are those? List at least 5.

1. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

4. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

5. ___________________________________________________________________________________________

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Student’s Name: _________________________________________________
2

INTRODUCTION

To understand the lesson please watch this video on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M6lANfzFsM

LESSON
What is Computer?
 Computer is a machine which can perform many tasks.
 It was originally invented to do speedy and accurate calculations, it can be used for other purposes too.
 It can perform any kind of work involving arithmetic and logical operations on data, process it as per
the instruction or input given and give the information as output.

Abacus

Abacus is made up of a wooden frame, with beads sliding along parallel wires, strings or rods within the frame.
Numbers represented in the abacus with these beads. You can use the abacus to add, subtract, multiply, and
divide numbers.

On a modern-day soroban, one bead sits above the beam and four beads sit below. The beads above the
beam are often called heaven beads and each has a value of 5 (five). The beads below are often called earth
beads and each has a value of 1(one).

Along the length of the beam, you'll notice that every third rod is marked with a dot and is called house point.
These specially marked rods are called unit rods because any one of them can be designated to carry the unit
number. While the abacus operator makes the final decision as to which rod will carry the unit number, it is
common practice to choose a unit rod just to the right of center on the abacus.

The abacus (also called counting frame) was already being used in Sumer in Southern Mesopotamia (present-
day Iraq) at around 3000 BC. It traveled over long distances and had variations in terms of design, but the
concept of its use remained the same. It was used in commerce and in trading among nations then.

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Student’s Name: _________________________________________________
2

Definition
Parts Use/s
Frame Outer body of abacus that holds rods, bar and beads.
Bar Separates the upper and lower beads
Rods It holds the beads
Beads They are the arebi conical in shape
House Point A reference points to start caculations

Schickard’s Calculating Clock

The first gear-driven calculating machine to actually be built was probably the Calculating Clock (also
called Schickards Calculator), so named by its inventor, the German professor Wilhelm Schickard in 1623.

This device got the little publicity because Schickard died soon afterward in the bubonic plague.

A reproduction of Wilhelm Schickard's Calculating Clock. The device could add and subtract six-digit
numbers (with a bell for seven-digit overflows) through six interlocking gears, each of which turned one-tenth of
a rotation for each full rotation of the gear to its right. Thus, 10 rotations of any gear would produce a “carry” of
one digit on the following gear and change the corresponding display.

Leibniz wheel or stepped drum

 is a cylinder with a set of teeth of incremental lengths which, when coupled to a counting wheel, can be
used in the calculating engine of a class of mechanical calculators. Invented by Leibniz in 1673, it was used for
three centuries until the advent of the electronic calculator in the mid-1970s.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz built a machine called the stepped reckoner based on the design of the stepped
drum in 1694.

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Student’s Name: _________________________________________________
2

Jacquard machine is a device fitted to a loom that simplifies the process of

manufacturing textiles

The resulting ensemble of the loom and Jacquard machine is then called
a Jacquard loom. The machine was invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1804.

Assessment

A. Identify who or what is being described in each number. Write your answer on
the line.

__________________ 1. This machine operated on a maximum of six-digit numbers; if it exceeded

thus capacity, a bell would ring in order to tell the user of the error.
__________________ 2. It is also called as counting machine.
__________________ 3. This machine utilized punch cards to control a loom’s pattern of weaving.
__________________ 4. He developed his own mechanical calculating machine that utilized a special
type of stepped drum.
__________________ 5. This computing device was already being used in Sumer around 3000 BC.
__________________ 6. it was used for three centuries until the advent of the electronic calculator in
the mid-1970s.

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY