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Mathematics, Numbers, and Computers - Who Invented The Computer?

Who invented the computer?

The modern computer evolved from a long line of calculating machines. One of the earliest mechanical devices for calculating, still widely employed in certain parts of the world, is the abacus. The abacus, first used by ancient peoples in Greece, Rome, and throughout Asia, began as a pitted counting board and evolved into a device with beads that slide on parallel hooked rods.

In 1617, Scottish mathematician John Napier (1550-1617) invented a device that could be used to multiply and divide, called "Napier's Bones." It was made up of a series of rods marked with the digits 1 through 9, and was a precursor to the slide rule. In 1645, French mathematician and physicist (a scientist specializing in the interaction between matter and energy) Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) produced a simple computing machine called a pascaline, which could add and subtract. The next step came in 1694 when German...

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