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Origins of Computing
Origins of Computing
then India
John Napier
1550-1617
Philosopher Forefathers of
Modern Computing
1600-1700
Von Leibniz
Blaise Pascal – developed binary
developed the arithmetic and a hand
Pascaline. cranked calculator.
Desktop calculator
Calculator was able to
add, subtract, multiply
worked like an
and divide.
odometer.
Blaise Pascal
Pascal (1623-62) was the son of a tax
collector and a mathematical genius. He
designed the first mechanical calculator
(Pascaline) based on gears. It performed
addition and subtraction.
Early Computational Devices
Pascaline mechanical calculator
Blaise Pascal
1623-1662
Early Computational Devices
Slide Calculators
William Oughtred
1574-1660
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
Leibnitz (1646-1716) was a German
mathematician and built the first calculator to
do multiplication and division. It was not
reliable due to accuracy of contemporary
parts.
He also documented the binary number
system which is used in all modern
computers.
Count to 8 in binary
0001
0010
0011
0100
0101
0110
0111
1000
Modern Computers use Binary
Why?
Much simpler circuits needed for performing
arithmetic
Early Computational Devices
Leibniz’s calculating machine, 1674
Bill Gates
Microsoft, 1978