History of Calculating Machines

Speaker: 
Sophia Davis
Curriculum links: 
Maths and ... Design and Technology
Age range: 
11 to 13
Cost: 
£195 for up to 40 students, more pro rata (cancellation policy)
Date of VC1: 
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Date of VC2: 
Friday, November 27, 2009
Time of VC(s): 
10.30 start (UK time), lasting for between 60 and 75 minutes
Participating schools: 
St Joseph's College, London
Participating schools: 
Plantsbrook School, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
Participating schools: 
Valentines High School, Ilford, Essex
Places still available?: 
Yes - book a place / create an account: you will need to create an account for your school if this is the first VC you've booked with us since September 2009.

Resources required in VC1
Follow-up suggestions and resources

Live from Cambridge's Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Sophia Davis will demonstrate some of the tools of calculation from different stages in our past and present. She will give a brief history of four particular instruments:

  • the slide rule
  • the abacus
  • the mechanical calculator
  • the now ubiquitous electronic calculator.

For the older tools, she will show a few different styles of instruments and give a short explanation of how they work. Coming nearer to the present day, the Whipple has a large collection of electronic calculators from the 1970s and early 1980s, which are visually interesting.

In the project work (to be done between the two VCs), students will be asked to chose a mathematical device (from a range of suggestions) on which to do a research project, and to design a mathematical game using this tool.

Resources required during VC1:

Follow-up work:

Suggestions for follow-up project work
In VC2, we will ask each participating school to give a 10 min presentation on what they have done. 

Find out more about the Whipple Museum of the History of Science

Peparing your presentation

Submitted by jag55 on Wed, 10/06/2009 - 15:43