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Wiki Entry #1: Chinese Abacus

The Chinese abacus or the suan-pan was first documented around 1200 A.D. It, like all abaci, was created to help with calculations. An abacus is a mechanical aid for counting. An abacus is made of a wooden frame with a upper and lower deck separated by a horizontal beam. Vertical poles run from top to bottom through this beam. Beads, used for counting, are located on these poles and can be slid up or down on them. The difference between abaci lies in the number and distribution of its beads. The suan-pan is a 2/5 abacus. This means that there are two beads in the upper deck and five in the lower. The beads in the upper deck have a value of 5 units and the beads of the lower deck have a value of 1 unit. The beads on each pole are worth ten times the bead on the pole to the right. This means that the first pole is the ones position, the next to the left is the tens position, and then hundreds and so forth. If one wished to use decimal places they chose a pole other than that of the far right as the ones position and then the poles to the right would be decimal places. When using a Chinese abacus one uses the thumb to slide a bead in the lower deck up and the index finger to slide it down. The middle finger is used to move beads in the upper deck. A number was counted when the bead was slide towards the middle beam. Thus a total of 9 could be counted with one upper bead and four lower beads(Fernandes, 2012). The second bead on the upper deck was used temporarily when dividing, allowing for up to fifteen on one pole (Dalakov, 2012). The abacus was not used for actual computation. The person doing the calculation used the abacus to keep track of figures while the whole calculation was done mentally (Fernandes, 2012).

The abacus was important in the development of digital computers and the history of the digital age. It was a necessary step on the path from counting with fingers to modern computers. This path was created because people needed to be able to count higher and higher numbers, and then compute more and more complex calculations. Before devices like the abacus, fingers were used for counting. This became a problem when people began to need to count over ten. They then began to use pebbles, sticks, or lines in the dirt to count. These items were difficult to transport, easy to knock over or scatter. Eventually someone came up with the abacus which was a relatively secure, portable solution. However, even the abacus was not perfect. There are many different types of them as people tried to improve its function. The suan-pan itself was eventually modified into a 1/4 abacus by the Japanese called the soroban. This simplified the abacus and removed some of the redundancy of the suan-pan such as the need for two upper beads. The short comings of abaci and its replacements inspired better devices that eventually lead to the digital computers of today. (Dalakov, 2012)

Works Cited

Dalakov, G. (2012, January 22). History of computers and computing, calculating tools, the abacus. Retrieved from http://history-computer.com/CalculatingTools/abacus.html

Fernandes, L. (2012, August 11). Abacus. Retrieved from http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/abacus/

Wiki Entry #2: William Higinbotham and Tennis for Two

William Higinbotham was born on October 25th, 1910. He earned his physics graduate degree from Cornell University and there learned about electronics. His first job was at the university as a technician in the physics department after which he worked on radars at MIT in the Radiation Lab. Then he worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos which later led to his concerns on nuclear safety. In 1948 Higinbotham began working at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the Instrumentation Division. There he invented the first video game, Tennis for Two. He became the head of the department in 1951 and was the head until he left the Laboratory in 1968 to work for Technical Support Organization where he worked on nuclear safeguards with Atomic Energy Commission. Higinbotham died on November 10th, 1994 at the age of 84. ("The great idea," 2007; "Research and development," 2011)

While Higinbotham's work with nuclear safeguards was very important, he is most known for something completely different: inventing the first video game! It came about while he was working at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Every fall the BNL has visitor days where people can come see exhibits set up in the gymnasium. In 1958 he decided to present Tennis for Two. "I knew from past visitors days that people were not much interested in static exhibits," said Higinbotham, "so for that year. I came up with an idea for a hands-on display – a video tennis game." The game was hugely popular and was displayed again in 1959 but after its second run the game was dismantled and its parts used for other projects. The game was never patented. ("Research and development," 2011)

Tennis for Two was just that, a tennis game between two players. The game was programmed on an analog computer attacked to an oscilloscope. It took three weeks to build. The screen showed a side view of the court with the floor and net visible. Each player had their own controller with a knob to control the angle of the ball and a button to hit it. If the ball hit the net it rebounded at an odd angle but if it made it over the net it bounced off the floor at a normal angle. There was a reset button which was to be pushed if the ball went off screen.("Research and development," 2011)

Works Cited

Research and development of the u.s. department of energy. (2011, January 21). Retrieved from http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/videogame.html

The great idea finder. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/higinbotham.htm