Kaung Khant Win

Early
Calculating
Devices
Agenda
Introduction 3
Abacus & Napier’s Bones 4
Pascaline 6
Difference Engine 7
Analytical Engine 10
 3 Introduction

We’ll be talking about the Early Calculating

Devices!
Early Calculating Devices are a few calculating
devices prior to the development of computers
are discussed and presented in this presentation
Abacus &
Napier’s
Bones
 5 Abacus

• The first calculating machine was developed in China. It was

used to count numbers and perform simple calculations
such as addition and subtraction.

• It’s also called a counting frame, is a calculating tool which

has been used since ancient times. It was used in the
ancient Near East, Europe, China, and Russia, millennia
before the adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system.
The exact origin of the abacus has not yet emerged.
 6 The Napier’s Bones
It was developed by Sir John Napier and released in 1617.
The device was used to perform calculations involving addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division.
It was named so because the numbers were carved on bones or strips of wood

It worked on other calculating methods, probably using them to speed up the work
of calculating his logarithms. He was the first to introduce the use of the decimal
point and to propose using binary numbers in calculations. Particularly associated
with his name are Napier's rods (or bones).

Picture of The
Napier’s Bones:
Difference Engine

Designed by Charles Babbage

 8 Difference Engine

The Difference Engine was designed by Charles

Babbage in the year 1822.
It was an early digital device which could perform
mathematical and astronomical calculations.
It was also capable of storing data temporarily and
printing the output.

The Difference Engine was a digital device: it

operated on discrete digits rather than smooth
quantities, and the digits were decimal (0–9),
represented by positions on toothed wheels, rather
than the binary digits (“bits”) that the German
mathematician-philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm von
Leibniz had favoured.
9 Picture of Difference Engine
Analytical
Engine
Designed by Charles
Babbage
 11 Analytical Engine
The Analytical Engine was designed by Charles Babbage in the year 1837.
It was the first mechanical general purpose computer which followed a typical IPO
cycle used in modern computers.
The machine took input using a reader as an input device.
It was made up for ‘mill’, the calculating unit like the CPU in modern computers.

The historical significance of the analytical engine lies in the fact that it was a
product of the industrial revolution, but a forerunner to the foundation of the
information age, namely, the computer. Babbage created several other calculating
machines in addition to the Analytical Engine.
12 Picture of Analytical Engine