From Arithmometer to Microprocessors

Understanding modern technology by learning about old technology

Erik Engheim
ITNEXT
Published in
10 min readNov 20, 2022

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Odhner Arithmometer — Pinwheel calculator invented in Russia in 1873

Modern microprocessors combine transistors to build logical gates which are then composed to create binary adders, subtracters, and shifters which can further be used to carry out multiplication and division. However, computations can be done in numerous other ways besides having electric…

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Geek dad, living in Oslo, Norway with passion for UX, Julia programming, science, teaching, reading and writing.