Building A Calculating Maching Using LEGO Pieces


	Building A Calculating Maching Using LEGO Pieces

sohil

6-28-2007 7:01 PM

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interesting, lego, calculator, technology, math, mathematics, genius, invention, history, engine

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/ed58552a-a288-4288-8c51-61536aada24d/F0B70F07-43C8-4057-B08E-E2DC59E6DA54/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://acarol.woz.org/" href="http://acarol.woz.org/" style="font-size: 11px;">acarol.woz.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/acarol.woz.org/img/8DEEA7C5-82FA-4F15-92F0-E43CF90DBF8E" alt="Small picture of the difference engine." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/"><SPAN>Before the day of computers and pocket calculators all mathematics was done by hand.</SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/"><SPAN>In the mid-19th century, people began to design machines to automate this error prone process.</SPAN>
			<SPAN>Many machines of various designs were eventually built but, the most advanced and famous of these was not.</SPAN>
			<SPAN>The <A title="Infomation about Charles Babbage." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage"> Babbage </A> <A title="Article on difference engines." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine">Difference Engine</A></SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/"><P class="p3">
			<SPAN>The second generation machine, documented here, calculates to the same precision, but is capable of being expanded to 3rd order differences and 4 digits accuracy.</SPAN>
			<SPAN>Other than the paper printed digit labels used to output the answer, standard LEGO pieces are used without modification.</SPAN>
		</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/"><DIV id="tableOfContents">
		<A href="#HowDoesDifferenceEngine">How Does a Difference Engine Compute?</A>
<A href="#DesigningDifferenceEngine">Designing A Difference Engine.</A>
<A href="#GeneralMechanicalIssues">General Mechanical Issues.</A>
<A href="#DigitRepresentation">Digit Representation.</A>
<A href="#GeneralOverview">General Engine Overview.</A>
<A href="#RotorClutch">Rotor and Clutch Adder Mechanism.</A>
<A href="#DigitDisplay">Digit Display and Vertical Coupling Between Units.</A>
<A href="#CarryPropagation">Carry Propagation Between Digits.</A>
<A href="#Images">Photos of the Difference Engine.</A>
<A href="#acknowledgements">Acknowledgments.</A>
</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/"><SPAN>How Does a Difference Engine Compute?</SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/">Designing a Difference Engine</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://acarol.woz.org/">General Mechanical Issues</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/F0B70F07-43C8-4057-B08E-E2DC59E6DA54/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>