Freaks of Number

There is a very intriguing book from 1893, with a second edition in 1905. Written by Maurice d’Ocagne, a Professor at the l’Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées, Le Calcul Simplifié par les Procédés Mecaniques et Graphiques is subtitled ‘a history and description of instruments and machines of calculation, tables, abacuses and nomograms’. Much of the book is exactly that: a set of descriptions for increasing the speed and accuracy of numerical calculation. The book opens with a standard piece of puffery, noting the substantial importance to all branches of modern science and industry of the art of calculation. The text is notable for a number of things. First, it is perhaps one of the first examples of software criticism. D’Ocagne makes developed comparative portraits of each of the kinds of calculating machines and techniques available in 1905 (indeed the book is bang up to date, with several last minute addenda on new machines). All the heroes of computation and their amazing gadgets are there: Pascal, Babbage, Leibniz, Napier. But there also appears a set of more everyday pieces of equipment, cash registers, arithmometres, and so on