Timeline of computing hardware before 1950: Difference between revisions

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Prehistory–antiquity: numbers are not computers
Tag: Reverted
Restored revision 1214345417 by Brunnock (talk): Whoops- deleted too much
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| c. 910 BC
| The [[south-pointing chariot]] was invented in [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]]. It was the first known geared mechanism to use a [[differential gear]]. The chariot was a two-wheeled vehicle, upon which is a pointing figure connected to the wheels by means of differential gearing. Through careful selection of wheel size, track and gear ratios, the figure atop the chariot always pointed in the same direction.
 
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| c. 200 BC
| [[Indian mathematics|Indian mathematician]] [[Pingala]] first described the [[binary number system]] which is now used in the design of essentially all modern computing equipment. He also conceived the notion of a [[binary code]] similar to the [[Morse code]].<ref>[http://binomial.csuhayward.edu/India.html The History of the Binomial Coefficients in India], [[California State University, East Bay]]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316213956/http://binomial.csuhayward.edu/India.html |date=March 16, 2008}}</ref><ref>[http://www.actewagl.com.au/Education/communications/Telephone/TelephoneHistory/MorseCode.aspx Morse code]. [[ActewAGL]].</ref>
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| c. 125 BC
| The [[Antikythera mechanism]]: A clockwork, [[analog computer]] believed to have been designed and built in the Corinthian colony of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. The mechanism contained a [[differential gear]] and was capable of tracking the relative positions of all then-known heavenly bodies.
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| c. 9 AD
| [[Chinese mathematics|Chinese mathematicians]] first used [[negative numbers]].
 
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