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Stepped Reckoner

In the 1670s, German Baron Gottfried von Leibniz took mechanical calculation a step beyond his predecessors. Leibniz, who entered university at fifteen years of age and received his bachelor's degree at seventeen, once said: "It is unworthy of excellent men to lose hours like slaves in the labor of calculation, which could be safely relegated to anyone else if machines were used."

Leibniz extended Blaise Pascal's ideas and, in 1671, introduced the Staffelwalze / Step Reckoner (aka the Stepped Reckoner), a device that, as well as performing additions and subtractions, could multiply, divide, and evaluate square roots by a series of stepped additions. Pascal's and Leibniz's devices were the forebears of today's desktop computers, and derivations of these machines, including the Curta calculator, continued to be produced until their electronic equivalents finally became readily available and affordable in the early 1970s.

In a letter of March 26, 1673 to Johann Friedrich, Leibniz described its purpose as making calculations "leicht, geschwind, gewiß" (sic), i.e. easy, fast, and reliable. Leibniz also added that theoretically the numbers calculated might be as large as desired, if the size of the machine was adjusted; quote: "eine zahl von einer ganzen Reihe Ziphern, sie sey so lang sie wolle (nach proportion der größe der Machine)" (sic). In English: "a number consisting of a series of figures, as long as it may be (in proportion to the size of the machine)".

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Related questions

Why was Stepped Reckoner unreliable?

hk


What did leibniz?

calculus and the stepped reckoner


Who invented the Stepped Reckoner?

Gottfried Wilhelm


What did Gottfried Leibniz invent?

calculus and the stepped reckoner


How do you use stepped reckoner?

To use a stepped reckoner, you enter the values of the quantities you are working with and follow the specific steps outlined in the reckoner's instructions to perform mathematical operations. The device typically guides you through a series of computations to arrive at the desired result. Make sure to understand the specific functions and operations of the stepped reckoner you are using before attempting calculations.


What year did Gottfried Wilhelm invent the stepped reckoner?

in 1964.


10 Who invented The Stepped Reckoner?

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.


What does the stepped reckoner do?

It can add, subtract, multiply, divide and do square roots.


Does What the Stepped Reckoner do that Pascals machine couldn't?

Oh, honey, let me break it down for you. The Stepped Reckoner, designed by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, could handle multiplication and division, while Pascal's machine could only do addition and subtraction. Basically, the Stepped Reckoner was like the cool kid on the block with more math skills than Pascal's machine could ever dream of.


Why the stepped reckoner was unreliable?

The device tended to jam and malfunction because the parts of the machine were unreliable.


What does the stepped reckoner do that pascals couldn't?

It did multiplication by repeated addition and shifting whereas Pascal's couldn't.


What does the Stepped Reckoner do that pascals couldn't do?

It did multiplication by repeated addition and shifting whereas Pascal's couldn't.