Computing · 1822

Difference engine

Babbage's plan to print error-free mathematical tables by machine.

Charles Babbage demonstrated a small working model in 1822 that tabulated polynomials by the method of finite differences. The full engine was never finished in his lifetime, but London's Science Museum built Difference Engine No. 2 in 1991 and it worked to 31 digits.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 2

What it led to 1

Analytical Engine 1837

Watch

The Babbage Difference Engine #2 at CHMComputer History Museum · YouTube

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6

Fastest computer in the world Latest: 2.2×10¹⁸ operations per second (2026) Source: Wikipedia: List of fastest computers; Wikipedia: History of supercomputing