Difference Engine

In 1822 Charles Babbage proposed a machine that carried out mathematical problems more accurate and more efficient than any human being ever could. He proposed the project to the Royal Astronomical Society in a paper entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables" The British Government initially funded the project, but cancelled funding after Babbage repeatedly asked for more money without making any apparent progress on the construction of the engine. His difference engine consisted of 25, 000 parts and weighed about 13,600kg and was 2.4m tall. This machine should have been able to compute numbers up to the sixth digit.

Analytical Engine

A short period after Babbage?s attempt at constructing his difference engine became a dream that can never come into reality he proposed another machine to the British Government. He called it the analytical engine and it should have been able to compute numbers up to the twentieth digit. It was never built because of lack of funding and confidence after his first engine wasn?t even completed even though the British Government gave an ample amount of funding to Babbage. Although the analytical engine was first described in 1837, Babbage progressed with the design of the machine until his death in 1871.