The Calculating Engine reprints the celebrated Edinburgh Review essay of 1834 on Charles Babbage’s difference engine — the great machine for computing and printing mathematical tables by ‘the application of machinery’ alone. Here is the engine explained for the general reader: its wheels and carriages, its method of differences, and the astonishing claim that calculation itself could be mechanised.
Written while the engine stood half-built and the Analytical Engine was taking shape in Babbage’s mind, it captures the exact moment the idea of the computer entered public discussion. Download the free EPUB and read about computing as breaking news, in 1834.