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March 2010
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Babbage's Engines

Tags: history of mathematics : Babbage's Engines


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Clearly the modern electronic computer couldn't have been built before electronics existed, but it's not clear why computers powered by steam or clockwork weren't invented earlier. Tom Körner speculates on the historical reasons why computers were invented when they were.

Tags: Babbage's Engines : algorithm : mechanical calculator : analogue computer : Turing Machine