Chapter 329: A computer born 100 years in advance! (7.6K)
"...."
I heard these words ringing in my ears.
Joseph Clement instantly looked like the heroine in a short time-stop movie, with his eyes wide open and his mouth slightly open.
He stood there dumbly.
A few seconds later.
Joseph Clement came out of his daze and suddenly turned his head to look at the person who made the noise, ready to see where he came from.
As a result, this look almost made him angry:
The person who said those words was none other than Wheat standing next to Babbage!
At this time, there was no apology for what he said wrongly on Xiaomai's face, and there was an exclamation of "what a dish" on his face.
Coupled with his very honest and honest appearance, it seems as if what he is saying is some well-known common sense...
provocative!
This is definitely a provocation inspired by Babbage!!
Joseph Clement pulled a passerby aside angrily.
He ignored the wheat, but frowned and looked at Babbage:
"Charles! What do you want to do?"
"I've already warned you, this is the World Industrial Expo, not a place where you can do whatever you want!"
"If Your Majesty is angry, all of you together will be responsible for your death!"
Babbage glanced at him with a crazy look:
"Joseph, are you out of your mind?"
"Don't even think about it. If I really tried to cause trouble, would you still be able to demonstrate this difference engine?"
What Babbage said was very reasonable. His earlier action of pulling Xu Yun and others aside represented his attitude - he was indeed not prepared to cause trouble at the expo.
Looking at Babbage whose face was full of "You've got a convulsion," Joseph Clement suddenly felt veins jumping on his forehead.
I saw him pointing at the wheat and shouting:
"Then why did you let this kid come out and talk nonsense?"
"?"
Babbage glanced at the wheat beside him, pulled him protectively to his side, and asked:
"What did he say nonsense?"
Joseph Clement let out a haha and laughed angrily:
"This young man asked me if the difference engine could calculate multiplication and division of twenty-digit numbers - it was just a meaningless question. After I answered, he actually said that I... said that my equipment was rubbish...
....It’s really unreasonable!”
Following the ideas of Joseph Clement.
The reason why Wheat, a foolish young man, jumped out must be Babbage's plan to stop losses.
Next, Babbage should have replied unreasonably, "It's just a kid's joke." Then he would either be ridiculed by himself, which is very unlikely, or he would use this as an opportunity to have a laugh and leave the scene in despair.
So he puffed up his chest slightly, preparing for a wave of verbal abuse.
Clinker.......
Babbage just blinked and nodded:
"Sorry... I don't seem to understand. Did Maxwell say something wrong?"
"A difference engine that can only calculate eight-digit multiplication and division... is really good."
"..."
After hearing Babbage's reply, Joseph Clement fell silent for no reason.
A few seconds later.
Sissoko Hook, who was standing next to him, suddenly heard a clicking sound - it was the collision of the back molars due to excitement:
"what are you saying?"
Sissoko Hook quickly turned his head.
I only see this moment.
Joseph Clement, a gentleman who had always been elegant and dignified, could no longer see his previous elegance and reserve.
His mouth was open and his eyes were moving, his beard and hair were spread out, and he was even more excited than Babbage before:
"Charles Babbage, are you kidding me?! Don't think that just because you have designed some drawings, you can brag about it here!"
"Unless Fat Fish is resurrected, no one will be able to do it now or even fifty years from now!"
"If you don't give me a reasonable explanation today, the title I fought for will be taken away, and you will be dragged before His Majesty and the Queen to seek justice!"
Harvey Clement also took a step forward when he heard this and stood beside his father.
He straightened his chest and showed his badge as a member of the House of Commons, expressing his support.
Sissoko came to Joseph Clement's other side, adding momentum to the Oxford partner.
Seeing the determined expressions on the faces of the three funny men in front of him, Babbage couldn't help but look at each other and Xu Yunlaotang and others burst into laughter.
Then Lao Tang walked up to Joseph Clement, looked him up and down, and asked:
"Mr. Joseph, do you want an explanation?"
Joseph Clement's eyes stayed for a while on the Cambridge University President's badge on Lao Tang's chest, still breathing heavily:
"Of course, you must give me an explanation for this matter. Even if you are the president of the Student Union of Cambridge University, don't even think about trying to reconcile!"
Lao Tang nodded slightly when he saw this and said casually:
"I understand, Mr. Joseph, please come with me."
Joseph Clement was still angry at this time, and when he heard this, a question mark subconsciously appeared on his face:
"where to?"
Lao Tang shrugged at him:
"Of course I'm going to take you to see a machine that can do twenty-digit multiplication and division, you idiot."
The last two words in Lao Tang's words were Chinese that he learned from Xu Yun, so Joseph Clement did not know the lethality of these two words.
At this time, his attention was completely focused on the first half of Lao Tang's sentence:
"Take you to see a machine capable of multiplying and dividing twenty-digit numbers."
These words were like the speed of a car in a newsboy's book, destroying all the momentum that Joseph Clement had built up.
In between astonishment.
He unconsciously followed Lao Tang's footsteps.
But just after taking a few steps, Harvey Clement stepped forward and grabbed him:
"Father, father!"
My son's words "Where are we going, daddy" were very effective, and even brought Joseph Clement back to reality.
After regaining consciousness.
He blinked.
The heart suddenly started beating rapidly.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! As Babbage’s partner for nearly twenty years, he is very clear about Babbage’s situation after his death:
He was mentally depressed and even close to madness, and he would look for alms from his donors every few days.
Only a very small amount of time can be spent on drawing design.
in this case.
No matter how talented Babbage was, he would never have been able to design a machine that could multiply and divide twenty-digit numbers.
But on the other hand.
Now that the other party is saying so confidently at the expo, this is obviously against common sense:
It is possible that Babbage went crazy on his own, but that idiot Ada accompanied him to try to explain the past.
But if people like Wheat, Lao Tang, and Xu Yun get sick together, the probability is very low.
And apart from the possibility of going crazy, the only thing left is...
Did they really design such a machine?
Think of this.
Joseph Clement couldn't help but take a deep breath, ponder for a moment, and hit the cane hard:
"Harvey, follow them!"
Harvey Clement nodded, supported his father and followed Lao Tang.
Seeing this, Sissoko Hook hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, and left the Oxford booth with a few people.
As the figures of several people walked away,
Other visitors at the exhibition, you look at me, I look at you.
Just like the gossip party waiting to take advantage of the three-character artist during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2022, the bustling crowd followed suit.
"Booth B3....B4....B6...."
After walking along the industrial exhibition area for a while.
Lao Tang and Xu Yun stopped in front of a booth:
"Here we go, B14!"
The area of this booth is not much smaller than that of Oxford, with a red and white pattern floating on it.
This pattern is very familiar to Xu Yun. It is the emblem of the University of Cambridge.
In other words.
The booth that Xu Yun and the others arrived at was the University of Cambridge's booth at the World Exposition.
At the same time, unlike Oxford University, Sissoko Hooker was in charge of the scene.
The person in charge of the Cambridge University stand was Xu Yun and Xiaomai's cheap tutor, George Stokes.
Seeing Lao Tang leading a group of people behind him to rush to his booth, Stokes quickly greeted him:
"Good morning, classmate Thomson, what are you..."
Lao Tang nodded to him, and then the two icebergs started to whisper in a giggling voice.
After listening to Lao Tang narrate the process.
Stokes glanced at the crowd that was gradually surrounding him again, pondered for a moment, and said to Lao Tang:
"Classmate Thomson, although we are ready to put that device on display, after all, this is a backup plan under unavoidable circumstances..."
"As far as I know, it's far from complete."
"You and Mr. Charles are professionals in this field, so I hope you can give me an accurate answer - if I take it to the booth now, will there be any errors or omissions in the demonstration results?"
Lao Tang shook his head decisively:
"Professor Stokes, don't worry, there will definitely be no accidents. If you don't believe it, I can..."
As he said this, Lao Tang turned around and glanced at Wheat. He hesitated slightly when he discovered that Wheat didn't bring an ax today. Then he shook his head with regret:
"Forget it...I can't guarantee you without the axe. Anyway, don't worry, nothing will go wrong."
Seeing that Lao Tang was so determined, Stokes no longer insisted:
"Okay, I'll arrange for people to remove the protective fabric now."
After Stokes leaves.
Harvey Clement also helped Joseph Clement to the booth of Cambridge University.
Then, before his father could speak, Harvey Clement asked:
"Thomson, where is the explanation you mentioned? Where is it?"
Lao Tang frowned and glanced at the second president of the Apostolic Society, a trace of disgust flashing in his eyes.
Now that their conflict has reached an irreconcilable level, Lao Tang naturally won't give him a good look, so he replied dryly:
"Mr. Congressman, are you a little too anxious?"
"Since I took you to the Cambridge exhibition hall, I will naturally give you a reasonable explanation."
"The harder you scream now, the more painful your face will be when you get hit - have you forgotten about the night of the interview with the Apostolic Society?"
When Harvey Clement heard this, a look of anger suddenly appeared on his face.
at the same time.
There were also two faint pains in his stomach and forehead.
Of course, he has not forgotten that shameful night, a perfect interview dinner for the Apostolic Society, but it was suddenly messed up by Xu Yun and Aveline.
Although the final result was that Lao Tang and Aveline quit the Apostolic Society at the same time, Rossetti and the Whig camp won a great victory.
But he was punched hard by Xu Yun, and his head was smashed by Aveline with a plate. It took him a while to recover.
But soon.
Harvey Clement thought of something, and the light in his eyes became bright and dim:
"Just wait for me. In a few months, I will definitely watch you..."
But the thought has not yet passed away.
Harvey Clement's thoughts were interrupted by Stokes who returned to the crowd again:
"Everyone, the machine is ready."
Hear this.
Harvey Clement suddenly felt his arm loosen, and when he looked up, he realized that his father had already walked forward on crutches.
So he had no choice but to follow quickly.
I only see this moment.
In the center of the open space seven or eight meters away from them, there was a strange-looking device:
Like Clement's Difference Engine, it has an obvious steam engine power source on one side.
There are also connection tools such as calculation needles and derivative hammers.
Judging from these devices, it is obviously also a computing device.
But where it should have housed a large number of storage gears, it was instead occupied by more than a dozen transparent glass tubes filled with mercury inside.
These glass tubes are about one meter long and about ten centimeters in diameter, with some complex coils wrapped around the outside.
If you look carefully, you can also see some other small parts.
See this situation.
Joseph Clement suddenly frowned.
What is this?
If Babbage's machine looks the same as his Difference Engine, then he can feel relieved:
Because today's design idea can never achieve the effect of calculating twenty-digit numbers.
But the machine in front of me is a little strange...
Just as Joseph Clement frowned, Lao Tang walked over.
The two calculation papers in his hands were handed to Harvey Clement and Joseph Clement respectively:
"Two gentlemen, in order to avoid being accused of pre-arranging the results and falsifying the whole article, please write down the numbers yourself."
"This time we are going to verify multiplication. The sum of twenty-digit multipliers cannot exceed twenty digits and cannot be 1. Both of us must understand this truth, right?"
Joseph Clement snorted and nodded.
The so-called operable numbers of a difference engine can be divided into two types according to the operation rules.
The operand of addition and subtraction refers to the number to the left of the equal sign.
That is, addends and subtrahends/minuends in mathematics. (I don’t remember whether there is an addend for addition...)
And the output... that is, the sum or difference on the right side of the equal sign will be one greater than the addend and subtrahend/minuend.
That is to say, the operation of three-digit addition can be 333 333=666, or 999 999=1998.
Multiplication and division are different.
The operands for multiplication and division refer to the product or quotient, which is the number on the right side of the equal sign.
The sum of the values on the left side of the equal sign must be less than or equal to the operable number, even if it is the operable number X1, it still does not work.
Don't ask why, the logic of Babbage's design is like this.
Although the Clements and his son wished that Babbage would die early, this rule still had to be followed - or in other words, nowadays, people have too many eyesight, so they have to follow it.
Then very quickly.
The Clement father and his son wrote two tens digits on the paper:
8283749219.
9923463548.
Lao Tang took the piece of paper and returned to the equipment.
First, two sets of numbers were written on cardboard and made public, and then they were handed over to Babbage:
"Mr. Babbage, may God bless you well."
Babbage thanked him, took two pieces of paper, glanced at them, and said to Ada:
"Ada, turn on the phone."
After hearing this, Ada took a deep breath and pressed the start button with solemn eyes.
Gudu Gudu——
With the sound of the steam engine starting up.
Babbage's mood also started to stir.
It’s been 31 years...
31 years ago.
During a chat with John Herschel, he came up with the idea of a difference engine and began to design it.
1822.
He submitted a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "On the Application of Mechanics to Astronomical and Mathematical Table Calculations".
The concept of the difference engine was officially launched.
1824.
The Royal Astronomical Society awarded him the Gold Medal, the highest honor, for his invention of the difference engine.
He was 32 years old that year and concurrently held the position of Lucasian Chair Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
He thought that in the next thirty years, the whole world would admire his name.
However, as time passes by, the years turn.
Only then did he realize that what was coming his way was not glory, but criticism, slander and ridicule.
The blows that followed brought him infinitely close to the edge of collapse.
And just when he thought he would regret this for the rest of his life, time played another joke on him.
A young man from the East found him and provided him with a generous contract and a large number of exquisite design ideas.
The conversion of acoustic and electrical information directly increased the computing power of the entire analytical engine to a level that even Babbage could not imagine.
A scholar will die for his confidant...
in the last month.
He and Ada have broken through 20-digit multiplication and division operations, with an accuracy...
hundred percent!
Although this calculation range is still far away from the 35-digit calculation that Xu Yun originally agreed with him, Xu Yun's star hunting plan will still take at least several months to launch.
But for the University of Cambridge...
This is a trump card!
So after discussion by the school directors, the analytical engine, which was not yet fully completed, was moved to the Cambridge booth.
According to the plan.
If Cambridge University's other exhibits can withstand Oxford University's onslaught...even temporarily, this device will not be put on display.
But now Oxford University has come up with a fax machine and a Difference Engine that is inferior to the Analytical Engine but still has a crushing advantage.
The original anti-stress plan was disrupted.
Even if Babbage does not quarrel with Clement and his son, this device will still be officially unveiled.
Then Babbage brought his mind back to reality and looked around.
At this moment.
His fingers slowly pressed down on the keys, typing characters.
The tactile feedback of the keys was inexplicably subtle. He felt like a pianist giving a performance on the stage of the opera house.
It's a pity that Xu Yun couldn't read Babbage's thoughts.
Otherwise, he would complain that those who played keyboards in later generations were also pianists, but they were fighting for their household registration certificates in Za'an...
Spiritual inheritance.JPG.
"82837......"
Babbage pressed a few numbers attentively and said to Ada at the same time:
"Ada, is the program running normally?"
At this time, Ada didn't have the elegance of a countess at all. She was sitting on a small stool, and she didn't realize that the soles of her shoes had stepped on her skirt. When she heard this, she wiped her forehead:
"Everything is fine, you can continue typing!"
Babbage nodded and continued pressing the numbers.
One minute later.
The two factors have been entered.
Babbage pressed another red button, representing output.
Snapped--
Less than two seconds.
A piece of paper slowly appeared.
Lao Tang stepped forward to take the note and took a look at it. Then, in order to avoid suspicion, he immediately made it public:
"82203483415519345212."
at the same time.
Bada——
The sound of a pen falling suddenly came to Sissoko Hook's ears.
Just as he was about to turn around, he saw a piece of calculation paper flying slowly in front of him.
So he subconsciously grabbed the piece of paper and spread it out in front of him.
I saw a number written on the top of this piece of paper:
82203483415519345212.
A total of twenty digits were exactly the same as those in Lao Tang's hand.
Immediately afterwards, he suddenly felt a sliding pressure on his left arm.
A few seconds later.
In the booth of Cambridge University, an exclamation suddenly sounded:
"Mr. Joseph...what's wrong with you? Come on, get a doctor quickly, Mr. Joseph has fainted!!!!!"