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Analog computers used direct mechanical or electrical models to solve problems, but lacked versatility. The first was a tide-predicting machine invented in 1872 by Sir William Thomson. James Thomson later conceptualized the differential analyzer, a mechanical analog computer that could solve differential equations using wheels and discs. The art of mechanical analog computing peaked with the differential analyzer built at MIT in 1927, but digital electronic computers made analog machines obsolete by the 1950s except for some specialized applications.

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95 views2 pages

Sam 43

Analog computers used direct mechanical or electrical models to solve problems, but lacked versatility. The first was a tide-predicting machine invented in 1872 by Sir William Thomson. James Thomson later conceptualized the differential analyzer, a mechanical analog computer that could solve differential equations using wheels and discs. The art of mechanical analog computing peaked with the differential analyzer built at MIT in 1927, but digital electronic computers made analog machines obsolete by the 1950s except for some specialized applications.

Uploaded by

Sejal Mishra
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Analog computers

Main article: Analog computer

Sir William Thomson's third tide-predicting machine design, 1879–81

During the first half of the 20th century, many scientific computing needs were met by
increasingly sophisticated analog computers, which used a direct mechanical or electrical model
of the problem as a basis for computation. However, these were not programmable and generally
lacked the versatility and accuracy of modern digital computers. [20] The first modern analog
computer was a tide-predicting machine, invented by Sir William Thomson in 1872.
The differential analyser, a mechanical analog computer designed to solve differential equations
by integration using wheel-and-disc mechanisms, was conceptualized in 1876 by James
Thomson, the brother of the more famous Lord Kelvin.[16]
The art of mechanical analog computing reached its zenith with the differential analyzer, built by
H. L. Hazen and Vannevar Bush at MIT starting in 1927. This built on the mechanical integrators
of James Thomson and the torque amplifiers invented by H. W. Nieman. A dozen of these
devices were built before their obsolescence became obvious. By the 1950s, the success
of digital electronic computers had spelled the end for most analog computing machines, but
analog computers remained in use during the 1950s in some specialized applications such as
education (slide rule) and aircraft (control systems).

Digital computers
Electromechanical
By 1938, the United States Navy had developed an electromechanical analog computer small
enough to use aboard a submarine. This was the Torpedo Data Computer, which used
trigonometry to solve the problem of firing a torpedo at a moving target. During World War
II similar devices were developed in other countries as well.

Replica of Zuse's Z3, the first fully automatic, digital (electromechanical) computer.

Early digital computers were electromechanical; electric switches drove mechanical relays to
perform the calculation. These devices had a low operating speed and were eventually
superseded by much faster all-electric computers, originally using vacuum tubes. The Z2,
created by German engineer Konrad Zuse in 1939, was one of the earliest examples of an
electromechanical relay computer. [21]
In 1941, Zuse followed his earlier machine up with the Z3, the world's first
working electromechanical programmable, fully automatic digital computer. [22][23] The Z3 was built
with 2000 relays, implementing a 22 bit word length that operated at a clock frequency of about
5–10 Hz.[24] Program code was supplied on punched film while data could be stored in 64 words
of memory or supplied from the keyboard. It was quite similar to modern machines in some
respects, pioneering numerous advances such as floating point numbers. Rather than the
harder-to-implement decimal system (used in Charles Babbage's earlier design), using
a binary system meant that Zuse's machines were easier to build and potentially more reliable,
given the technologies available at that time.[25] The Z3 was not itself a universal computer but
could be extended to be Turing complete.[26][27]
Vacuum tubes and digital electronic circuits

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