MIT5312:
Systems Analysis and Design
Spring, 2007
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The Leibniz Wheel
In 1674 Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716), of Leipzig, made his "Leibniz Wheel" or "Stepped Reckoner". It used a movable carriage so that it can multiply, with operands of up to 5 and 12 digits and a product of up to 16 as well as calculating square roots. The problem was that its carry mechanism requires user intervention and didn'tt really work in all cases anyway. The calculator is powered by a crank. This is the same Leibniz or Leibnitz who co-invented calculus. ??? What was the next notable device ???
This page was last updated on 02/27/07. |
