HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTERS

EARLY METHODS OF COUNTING


BODY COUNTING
  • Fingers, toes and feet.
  • The fingers and toes were used for counting and keeping track of days, while the feet were used to measure areas, such as land.


COLLECTION COUNTING
  • A collection of smaller objects were used to correspond with the objects counted.
  • For example, a shepherd would keep a count of his sheep by keeping the same number of pebbles.
  • A collection of shells, pearls, elephant teeth, sticks, or even coconuts could be used.



TALLY STICK
  • A tally stick is any piece of wood, bone, or object on which notches could be cut.
  • Each notch corresponds to an object being counted.
  • With tally sticks, only a small piece of wood or bone needed to be carried around for keeping track of the numbers of objects.



KNOTTED STRING
  • Knotted strings were used in the same way as tally sticks.



LIMITATION OF EARLY COUNTING AND CALCULATING DEVICES
  • They could not be used to count large numbers.
  • The results/output could not be stored.
  • They consumed a lot of time.
  • The operation was extremely difficult.
  • They were prone to errors.
  • It was difficult to keep and move them around.



MECHANICAL COUNTING / COMPUTING DEVICES



ASSIGNMENT

  • List 5 features of early counting devices.


PRESENTATION






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