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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2024 Dec 3, 15:16 -0800
In the 1932 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is an article on mathematical tables.
"The new tables reflect the modern tendency towards the use of calculating machines - first, by the extensive use of machines in their making; secondly, by the fact that logarithmic values are tending to be superseded by natural; and thirdly, because the possession of a machine is virtually assumed in tables of special functions."
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Interest in logs of numbers has declined to such an extent that the 20-digit table "Logarithmetica Brittania" (or something like that) may never be published, says the article. It says no method has yet been developed to set type directly from the calculating machine.
Also of interest are a couple of articles on mechanical computation with business machines, by Comrie at the NAO.
The Nautical Almanac Office Burroughs machine
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"During the past six years the calculations done in H.M. Nautical Almanac Office have been completely mechanised. Not a single logarithm is now used. The older generation has been succeeded by one which knows only how to produce figures mechanically."
The application of the Hollerith tabulating machine to Brown's tables of the moon
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"The mechanical methods that have been applied to certain portions of the work have eliminated much fatigue, increased tenfold the speed with which results can be obtained, and reduced the cost to one quarter of its former amount."
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Paul Hirose
sofajpl.com