Anyone who is baffled by mathematics beyond the multiplication tables can imagine with awe the Brobdingnagian mental efforts involved in inventing a clerkproof, 5,500-part machine that adds, subtracts ...

While we might have started out using our fingers and toes to count, humanity has been busy designing machines to help with calculations for hundreds of years. From early counting devices to modern ...

It’s no bigger than a drinking glass, and it fits easily in the palm of the hand. It resembles a pepper grinder—or perhaps a hand grenade. The diminutive “Curta” is a striking machine, a mechanical ...