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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Leibniz's Stepped Calculator


In 1671, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, a German Mathematician, invented a calculating machine which was able to perform true multiplication and division. He wrote "It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labour of calculation...", a statement which would no doubt endear him to many Maths pupils. He set out to build a better mechanical calculator. He knew that such a machine would save much time enabling scientists to concentrate on their studies rather than on the calculations. So in 1694 Leibniz completed his machine with modifications which used cylinders and gave the name Stepped Reckoner. Pascaline could only add and subtract but Leibniz's could also multiply, divide and find square roots.

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