Electronic computers and applied mathematics (1961)

[Music] an electronic computer often referred to as a computers are not brains they do not think they are not capable of planning devising or creating but they can remember things in the sense that they can store large amounts of data data which can be made available rate of seat for example the electronic computer can solve an equation such this one by the French mathematician pulong for the motion of the moon this same equation would take a mathematician 2 years to solve by manual method you may not realize it but the chances are that a machine such as this one or similar to it has already affected your everyday life and will most certainly affect your future electronic computers and dat processing machines are being used extensively by Science and Industry for determining new markets and new products making possible reduced inventories control unit serves as the nerve center of operations instructing the other units the input unit is used to feed initial data to the storage or memory unit when the processing or arithmetic unit is called into operation and given certain data it is capable of Performing tens of thousands of mathematical calculations per second when a solution to a problem is obtained the information is transferred from the memory unit to the output unit answers to problems can be printed at a rate of 600 per minute electrostatic devices print answers at a rate of several thousand lines per minute the chance of error in all these high-speed manipulations is extremely small computers can check their own results to ensure against errors because of their speed and accuracy electronic computers are making it possible for man to explore fields of Science in which answers to complex problems must be obtained in millionths of a second to be of value but there was a time when problems did not demand so much speed and a man could count and compute on the fingers of his hand this was Man's first digital computer for the word digit means finger as early as ancient Egypt finger counting was supplemented by Pebbles Pebbles dropped into respective trenches in the sand represented ones tens hundreds thousands Etc the word calculus from which we get the word calculate means Pebble celin involved the slow process of removing excess Pebbles from one trench and transferring Pebbles to another this crude computer was the Forerunner of the Abacus in instead of Pebbles beads strung on wires represented digits or groups of digits and resulted in a more maneuverable instrument this type of digital computer is still used with great skill in parts of the Orient with the Advent of the Machine Age Mechanical Devices were taking the place of the hand in manipulating digits this paraly calculator of 1850 was the first keyboard adding machine the first practical rotary calculator using Wheels to manipulate digits was this Baldwin developed in 1872 the brunsviga lever set calculator of 1891 operated faster than previous devices making it possible to handle more calculation in less time the need for faster calculating machines became apparent as the population expanded and more data had to be processed continually the United States census of 1890 was processed on this tabulating machine using punched cards in one and a half years manual methods would have taken 8 years many other types of calculating machines were developed to handle the increasing volume of business economic and scientific problems this early ENC electronic computer was used to solve problems in 2 hours that would have taken a mathematician working with a slide rule 100 years our electronic computers of today look extremely complex this univac Lark fills an entire room like all computers it is made up of five basic components including input contr control storage processing and output these five components are essential to all computers regardless of their mode of operation complex as they look electronic computers operate on a very simple principle they receive only two signals they make only two responses being electronic they have circuits that can be opened or closed switches that can be off or on it's understanding and its answers are limited to these two possibilities since this is true how can we translate rings of data thousands of words complicated formulas into the yes no signals that the computer can understand the answer is binary arithmetic A system that uses only two digits one and zero the binary number 101 equals 5 in the decimal system any number can be written in the binary system 142857 looks like this in binary arithmetic this system of arithmetic is actually more simple than the decimal system but uses the digit 0o and 1- 9 in order to understand the meaning of a number we must know the place value assigned to each digit in the number when we write numbers in the decimal system one in the First Column or first place means 1 one one in the second place means 11 or 10 one in the third place means 100 or 100 1 in the fourth place means 1,000 or 1,000 one in the fifth place means 1 10,000 or 10,000 Etc zero is used to tell quantity and also as a placeholder to keep the other digits in their proper places when zero appears in a given place it means none of that quantity in the decimal system each time we move a digit one place to the left we in effect multiply it by 10 1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 1 million Etc with the use of the digits 0 through 9 we can write a number of any size using the decimal system in the binary system we use only two digits zero and one each time we move the digit one one place to the left its value is multiplied by two for example one in the second place to the left represents two one followed by two zeros represents four one followed by three zeros represents 8 one followed by four zeros represents 16 and so on with the value doubled each time we move the one one space to the left the zeros are used both as a number and placeholder the numbers in between can be expressed by simple addition of the place values of the ones in the binary number three for instance is the binary number 1 one meaning 2 + 1 5 is the binary number 101 meaning 4 + 1 6 is the binary number 110 meaning 4 + two seven is the binary number 1 one or four + 2 + 1 closed electric circuits can be used to represent ones and open circuits zeros in this way we can count as high as seven on three electric circuits with four circuits we can count up to 15 the closed circuits represent ones in the binary number 1 1 1 1 and represent the place value of each one or 8 + 4 + 2 + 1 or a total of 15 by adding more circuits we can record any number we wish using binary numbers consisting of ones and zeros circuits that are closed represent ones open circuits zeros binary arithmetic is practical for most computers because they contain many physical devices that can exist in one of two states initial data such as the account number and amount on this bill can be read automatically by an optical reader and fed into a computer for processing another system used to feed data to computers is automatic reading of magnetic Inc characters such as these at the bottom of a check if data is fed into a computer from paper or plastic tape groups of holes punched in the tape represent decimal and letter symbols the computer converts these groups into true binary numbers for processing and then reconverts to the binary groupings that represent decimal and letter symbols for output letters numbers symbols the data to be placed in the computer can also be encoded on punched cards holes punched in the cards represent the letters numbers and symbols this data can be recorded on Magnetic Tape by magnetic recording heads whose poles may be North or South corresponding to one and zero the data on each punched card is recorded on a separate section of tape the individual bits of information can be recorded in a very small space on the tape the sections of information are called Fields each field contain specific data of predetermined nature information to be fed into a computer is often encoded on cards then transferred to Magnetic Tape for input to the computer the cards can be recorded on tape at a rate of many 100 per minute the tape can then be fed into the computer at a rate up to 120,00 characters per second this data is stored in the computer's memory unit for use in solving problems one type of memory used is the magnetic core memory capable of storing millions of bits of information tiny magnetic cores threaded on wires store one bit on each core a current of electricity passing through a core sets up a magnetic field that may be clockwise or counterclockwise corresponding to one or zero thousands of cores are stacked in Planes any one of which can be located and addressed in millionths of a second the size of the memory in this type of computer depends on the number of cores in the memory unit in solving a problem data in a magnetic core memory is stored recalled compared calculated checked and restored at a rate of many thousands of calculations per second for storage of data some computers use magnetic drums that revolve at high speed minute spots magnetized on the drum surface represent ones unmagnetized spots zeros another computer May store information information on rotating discs mounted like records in a record machine a unit like this has a memory capacity of 5 million characters any one of which may be located in a fraction of a second regardless of appearance all electronic computers operate on the same basic principle using simple language of coded signals signified by circuits that are off or on let's see how we tell the machine what we want it to do the plan outlining the solution of a problem is called a flow chart the solution is often prepared by two or three people an engineer scientist or Economist who knows the particular problem intimately an expert in computer operation known as a programmer who can lay out the solution in computer language this flowchart outlines each step for solving an inventory control problem a mathematician is usually required who can outline a method for solving a problem in terms of mathematical equations the resulting series of instructions for solving a problem with a computer is called a program special code is used for this program it outlines in precise order the exact steps the computer must take in solving a problem the last job of the programmer is coding final translation of the program into instructions appropriate to the particular machine let's see how this problem involving stock inventory for a large department store is handled information about the thousands of small track transactions that constitute the day's business is accumulated at the end of each work period the program for processing this problem on the computer is encoded on punch tape information concerning the entire inventory for each department is stored on rolls of magnetic t these rolls of tape can contain the information from 2 million punched cards to be fed into the computer current transactions must be fed into the computer also given the necessary information the computer console operator starts into action the thousands of electronic circuits the control unit directs each step according to the program punched in the tape the magnetic core memory unit stores information on the thousands of individual cores 65,000 characters of information can be stored in this memory thousands of electric circuits like these in the arithmetic unit connect transistors that act as switches the transistors are seen here as silver cylinders in the center the arithmetic unit computes total sales for each department against inventory revision of the previous day an inventory of 5,000 items can be processed by this computer in 5 minutes the result is a daily record of departmental sales a revised inventory and purchase requisitions printed out at 600 lines per minute telling buyers what items to reorder before stock is exhausted the r of tedious paperwork and accounting by manual methods necessary to accomplish this task would take hundreds of Clerks several days such a task requires only a small percentage of the computer's work week the remaining time the computer is free to do payroll accounting printing out as many as 990,000 checks in an afternoon credit accounting customer billing and the hundreds of other arithmetic tasks that people would otherwise have to perform the electronic computer has extended men's minds and multiplied their thoughts releasing people from tedious routine tasks to become creative the thinking of students is tested with special examinations that are fed into a computer for automatic scoring computers are aiding medical research and developing new medicines control of one of the world's largest refineries is completely automatic operated by an electronic computer a mile away the jet age demands Pilots trained to meet exacting requirements this trainer controlled by a computer duplic at precise flight conditions without ever leaving the [Music] ground Airlines use automatic air traffic control to handle thousands of flights daily Airline flight plans are fed into a computer filed and compared with other flights in the area and with changing weather conditions flight instructions for each plane are automatically printed out giving altitude and course data should there be a conflict with other flights a warning is sounded and Alternate courses are given immediately the flight controller relays the new course to the plane traffic uh noreast 12:00 2 miles Advanced rocket design and Engineering would be impossible without the aid of many computers new design features are simulated and studied on digital computers before building expensive models difficult problems await computers of the future areas of science present problems so complex that today's computers would require years to solve them computers of the future are being developed at demand of the men and women who work with them the utmost in precise and logical thinking to meet this challenge young people must begin early to develop a foundation of understanding basic mathematics and science principles computers do nothing voluntarily men must direct every process the productive activity of people in the future will to a large extent rest in their knowledge of computers and how to use them as computers relieve people of many tedious routine jobs they free manow to become brain power the only giant brain that can meet this challenge is the brain of [Music] man