MECHANICAL COUNTING AND CALCULATING DEVICES
CONTENT
- Mechanical Counting and Calculating Devices
Mechanical Counting and Calculating Devices
As a result of the disadvantages of the early counting devices, more advanced mechanical counting and calculating devices were invented. Some of these devices are;
- Abacus (Chinese)
- Napier’s Bone (John Napier)
- Slide Rule (William Oughtred)
THE ABACUS
The Abacus is made up of beads threaded on iron rods. The iron rods are fixed to a rectangular wooden frame. It is used for addition and subtraction only. It could not carry out complex mathematics. The Abacus was early used for arithmetic tasks, it was developed in China about 5000 years ago. It was successful that its use spread from china to many other countries.
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