In his book A History of Modern Computing, Paul Ceruzzi states that "computers were invented to "compute": to solve "complex mathematical problems," as the dictionary still defines that word. ... However, early electronic computers were designed basically to solve equations. ... And some privileged scientists had access to one of the few models of the electrically driven differential analyzer, a room-sized mechanical analog machine for solving differential equations that came into existence in the 1930s and endured into the 1950s (Burks 16)." ... In these systems, memory and the system pro...

• Word Count: 2223
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography

Students learn basic algebra equations, mainly using numerical expressions. ... Students are taught how to understand algebraic equations and fractions and to solve problems and equations. ... Mathematics Students are taught real number system as a coherent of elements, operations and properties. ... Students are taught to represent equations and inequalities as graphs. Students are taught to use graphs to solve problems and to illustrate, approximate, and verify solutions. ...

• Word Count: 1451
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Leibniz made a machine that could also multiply and worked on a system of dials and gears. ... Babbage's first attempt at solving this problem was made in 1822 when he made a machine to calculate differential equations called a Difference Engine. ... One of them was Vannevar Bush (1890 - 1974) who developed a calculator for solving differential equation in 1931. The machine could solve complex differential equations but it was cumbersome due to its hundreds of gears and shafts in order to represent numbers and their relationships. ... This approach would not have existed if it wasn&#x...

• Word Count: 2409
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

Babbage invented his first calculating machine that solved differential equations and dubbed it the "differential machine." ... Throughout history, there have been problems and situations that a human mind could not solve. These problems were possible to solve, but by conventional methods they would take years. ... These German communications were encoded by the German Enigma system. ... Many of the early operating systems were very unstable, and would sometimes cause the computer to stop working. ...

• Word Count: 1519
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Babbage's first attempt was in 1822 when he proposed a machine to perform differential equations, called a Difference Engine. ... It was slow, taking three to five seconds per calculation, and inflexible because sequences of calculations could not change, but it could perform basic math and also more complex equations. ... They contained all the components we associate with the modern day computer: printers, disk storage, memory, operating systems, and stored programs. ...

• Word Count: 2243
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Another mathematician, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, improved Pascal's machine and made his own contribution to the philosophy of reasoning by proposing an easier way by making an equation. (We should love these guys; they pretty much invented the calculator.)4 Many of the leading thinkers of the 18th and 19th century were convinced that a formal reasoning system, based on a kind of mathematics, could encode all human thought and be used to solve every sort of problem. Thomas Jefferson, for example, was sure that such a system existed, and only needed to be discovered. ... "Cybernetics,...

• Word Count: 5546
• Approx Pages: 22
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School