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01                           EVOLUTION OF


                                                                                           COMPUTERS












                      Your Aim

                      to learn about:
                            Early Counting Tools                           Abacus—First Calculating Device
                              Pascaline Adding Machine                        Leibniz Step Reckoner

                                Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine             Lady Ada Lovelace’s Programs
                                 Herman Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine           Computer Generations



                 Dear Students! You have learnt about computers in your previous class.

                 Computer is a familiar word for you today. But have you ever thought ‘Who invented
                 the computer?’ This machine is an outcome of labour of a number of minds. No
                 particular person can be credited for the invention of computers, but several names
                 stand out in the crowd.


                     EARLY COUNTING TOOLS

                 Since ancient times, people have invented tools for calculations. Early man tied
                 knots in a rope and carved marks on clay in order to keep the records. They also

                 used to count with the help of fingers, toes, pebbles, stones, sticks, bones, etc.












                                                        Early Counting Tools

                     ABACUS—FIRST CALCULATING DEVICE


                 The first step towards computing was the invention of Abacus around
                 3000 years ago in China. It is a wooden frame with beads on parallel
                 wires that can do simple calculations like addition and subtraction.
                 This device is used to calculate numbers at a fast speed.
                                                                                                           Abacus


                                                                                          Evolution of Computers   7
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