The History Of Computers

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Term Paper Title	The History Of Computers
# of Words	1615
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	6.46

The History of Computers

The 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.  It is tied in to you life in the most obvious and obscure ways.  Take for
example you wake up in the morning usually to a digital alarm clock. You start
you car it uses computers the second you turn the key (General Motors is the
largest buyers of computer components in the world). You pick up the phone it
uses computers. No mater how hard you try you can get away from them you can't.
It is inevitable.
     Many people think of computers as a new invention, and in reality it is
very old.  It is about 2000 years old .1 The first computer was the abacus. This
invention was constructed of wood, two wires, and beads.  It was a wooden rack
with the two wires strung across it horizontally and the beads were strung
across the wires.  This was used for normal arithmetic uses. These type of
computers are considered analog computers. Another analog computer was the
circular slide rule.  This was invented in 1621 by William Oughtred who was an
English mathematician. This slid ruler was a mechanical device made of two rules,
one sliding inside the other, and marked with many number scales. This slide
ruler could do such calculations as division, multiplication, roots, and
logarithms.
     Soon after came some more advanced computers. In 1642 came Blaise
Pascal's computer, the Pascaline. It was considered to be the first automatic
calculator.  It consisted of gears and interlocking cogs. It was so that you
entered the numbers with dials.  It was originally made for his father, a tax
collector.2 Then he went on to build 50 more of these Pascaline's, but clerks
would not uses them.3 They did this in fear that they would loose their jobs.4
     Soon after there were many similar inventions. There was the Leibniz
wheel that was invented by Gottfried Leibniz. It got its name because of the way
it was designed with a cylinder with stepped teeth. 5 This did the same
functions of the other computers of its time.
     Computers, such as the Leibniz wheel and the Pascaline, were not used
widely until the invention made by Thomas of Colmar (A.K.A Charles Xavier
Thomas).6 It was the first successful mechanical calculator that could do all
the normal arithmetic functions. This type of calculator was improved by many
ot...

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