History of computing

Logarithms and Other Tables

Early computers

No! Not that sort of computer. In the eighteenth century, people who did the calculations required to produce a set of Tables were called computers. The values in Tables were produced by successive additions and subtractions. Let me show you what I mean.

No.	Twos	Difference between squares	Square of the No.
1	2	1	1
2	2	3	4
3	2	5	9
4	2	7	16
5	2	9	25
6	2	11	36
7	2	13	49
8	2	15	64
9	2	17	81
10	2	19	100
11	2	21	121
12	2	23	144
13	2	25	169
14	2	27	196
15	2	29	225
16	2	31	256
17	2	33	289
18	2	35	324
19	2	37	361
20	2	39	400

Enough of Tables. Let's move on.