Frustrated by human error, mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage designed a machine to perform mathematical functions and automatically print the results. Library of Congress When today’s number ...

As you might expect from its name, the "Difference Engine" is a strangely difficult object to describe. You might start by imagining the side of a large crib with uprights ringed by small metal wheels ...

Sometime in 1821, the young English mathematician Charles Babbage (biography of Charles Babbage) got the idea about mechanical computation. He has provided us with two versions of the origin of his ...