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A difference engine is an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. It was designed in the 1820s, and was first created by Charles Babbage. The name difference engine is derived from the method of finite differences, a way to interpolate or tabulate functions by using a small set of polynomial co-efficients.
The analytical engine was a proposed digital mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. [2] [3] It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's Difference Engine, which was a design for a simpler mechanical calculator. [4]
The 19th century also saw the designs of Charles Babbage calculating machines, first with his difference engine, started in 1822, which was the first automatic calculator since it continuously used the results of the previous operation for the next one, and second with his analytical engine, which was the first programmable calculator, using ...
Charles Babbage and his calculating Engines. London Science Museum. Swade, Doran (2000). The Cogwheel Brain: Charles Babbage and the quest to build the first computer. Little, Brown. Swade, Doran (2001). The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer. Viking. ISBN 0-670-91020-1. Toole, Betty Alexandra, ed. (1998).
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 6 January 2025. English mathematician, philosopher, and engineer (1791–1871) "Babbage" redirects here. For other uses, see Babbage (disambiguation). Charles Babbage KH FRS Babbage in 1860 Born (1791-12-26) 26 December 1791 London, England Died 18 October 1871 (1871-10-18) (aged 79) Marylebone, London ...
Difference Engine, 1822 – Charles Babbage's mechanical device to calculate polynomials. Analytical Engine, 1837 – A later Charles Babbage device that could be said to encapsulate most of the elements of modern computers. Odhner Arithmometer, 1873 – W. T. Odhner's calculator who had millions of clones manufactured until the 1970s.
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Babbage has only belatedly been dubbed Father of the Computer ref. Halacy, Daniel Stephen (1970). Charles Babbage, Father of the Computer. In the same way, the importance of his analytical engine is evident now though it was not then. History is a record of steps which are actions towards a goal, but are not necessarily individually successful ...