The Antikythera mechanism is regarded as the earliest mechanical analog "computer", according to Derek J. de Solla Price tag . [6] It was designed to calculate astronomical roles. It was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off your Greek island of Antikythera , between Kythera and Crete , and possesses been dated to circa 100 BC. Devices of a a higher level complexity comparable to that of the Antikythera mechanism would not reappear until lots of years later.
Many mechanical aids to calculation and measurement ended up constructed for astronomical and navigation use. The planisphere was a star chart invented by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī inside early 11th century. [7] The astrolabe was invented inside Hellenistic world in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BC and is also often attributed to Hipparchus . A combination of the planisphere along with dioptra , the astrolabe was effectively an analog computer capable of working out several kinds of problems in spherical astronomy . An astrolabe incorporating a hardware calendar computer[8] [9] and gear -wheels was conceived by Abi Bakr of Isfahan , Persia in 1235. [10] Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī invented the 1st mechanical geared lunisolar calendar astrolabe, [11] an early fixed-wired knowledge processing machine [12] which has a gear train and gear-wheels, [13] circa 1000 ADVERTISING.
The sector , a calculating instrument used for solving problems equal in shape, trigonometry, multiplication and division, and for various functions, such while squares and cube roots, was developed in the late sixteenth century and found application in gunnery, surveying and navigation.