Difference Engine

• The difference engine was designed and partially built during the 1820s and '30s by Charles Babbage .
• The difference engine could compute simple calculations, like multiplication or addition, but its most important trait was its ability create tables of the results of up to seven-degree polynomial functions. It is similar to a calculator, but it works slower. It can count from 1 to N .
• It was not a predecessor of other technology, but it was inspired by Pascal's arithmetic machine.
• Interesting Fact: Like modern computers, the difference engine had storage, a place where data could be held temporarily for later processing, and it was designed to stamp its output into soft metal, which could later be used to produce a printing plate.