Christel Hamann’s difference engine was a type of mechanical calculator made in the 1900s. It was automatic and could help people calculate and arrange polynomial functions used in science, ...

Calculating machines were sometimes used to compute and print the mathematical tables widely used by nineteenth century engineers, mathematicians and scientists. A small number of digital computing ...

The Babbage Engine Exhibit opens May 10 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. The central artifact of the exhibit, a faithful construction of Englishman Charles Babbage's Difference ...

Difference Engine A numerical table is a tool designed to save the time and labor of those engaged in computing work. The oldest tables which are preserved, were compiled in Babylon in the period 1800 ...

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 ...