History of Computers - 1887 Words

History of Computers ENG 121 The volume and use of computers in the world are so great, they have become difficult to ignore anymore. Computers appear to us in so many ways that many times, we fail to see them as they actually are. People associated with a computer when they purchased their morning coffee at the vending machine. As they drove themselves to work, the traffic lights that so often hampered us are controlled by computers in an attempt to speed the journey. Accept it or not, the computer has invaded our life. The origins and roots of computers started out as many other inventions and technologies have in the past. They evolved from a relatively simple idea or plan designed to help perform functions easier and quicker. The†¦show more content†¦It added numbers entered with dials and was made to help his father, a tax collector. In 1671, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz invented a computer that was built in 1694. It could add, and, after changing some things around, multiply. Leibniz invented a special stopped gear mechanism for introducing the addend digits, and this is still being used. The prototypes made by Pascal and Leibniz were not used in many places, and considered weird until a little more than a century later, when Thomas of Colmar (A.K.A. Charles Xavier Thomas) created the first successful mechanical calculator that could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. A lot of improved desktop calculators by many inventors followed, so that by about 1890, the range of improvements included: Accumulation of partial results, storage and automatic reentry of past results (A memory function), and printing of the results. Each of these required manual installation. These improvements were mainly made for commercial users, and not for the needs of science. While Thomas of Colmar was developing the desktop calculator, a series of very interesting developments in computers was started in Cambridge, England, by Charles Babbage (of which the computer store Babbages is named), a mathematics professor. In 1812, Babbage realized that many long calculations, especially those needed to make mathematical tables, were really a series ofShow MoreRelatedHistory : The History Of Computers1631 Words   |  7 PagesThe History of Computers What is the history behind the computers we use in an everyday life? Most of us don t ask ourselves this question. But if it wasn t for the people who came up with these first inventions, we wouldn t have had the experience of this acknowledgment that we have today. Over the centuries computers have been evolving, becoming more and more advanced and equipped for the utilization of personal matter. What many of us don t know, is that the beginning of computers goesRead MoreHistory of Computers875 Words   |  4 PagesHistory of Computers Table of Contents Table of ContentsÂ…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â….Â…Â….2 AbstractÂ…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â….Â…Â…3 Body of ResearchÂ…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â….4 - 6 ConclusionÂ…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â….Â…7 BibliographyÂ…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…Â…..8 Abstract This project explains the history of computers, starting from Howard Aikens Harvard Mark I to present day time. Although I have not gone over all of the models in my report, I have chosen those which I feel have had the greatest effect on the computer world. I will show how in just forty years, computersRead MoreThe History of Computers1731 Words   |  7 PagesThe History of Computers Whether you know it or not you depend on computers for almost every thing you do in modern day life. From the second you get up in the morning to the second you go to sleep computer are tied into what you do and use in some way. 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