Re: How Were Those Tables Computed?

In article <43138458.2A4F32E4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Jim Spriggs <jim.sprigs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> qquito wrote:
> >
> > ...(2) Were the computation done manually by
> > some hard-working mathematicians?
>
> A quick look in the dictionary reveals that, in the mid 17 century,
> "computer" meant "A person who makes calculations; spec. a person
> employed for this in an observatory etc."

A quick look in my environment learns that that was still quite common
in the 50s. But they had changed pencil and paper for calculating
machines. Somehow I remember a tale where in some institution calculations
with a large number of digits were required. They assigned a number of
computers (human in this case) to the task where each computer was
responsable for a particular range of digits...
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