Girls’ High School & College, Prayagraj

WORKSHEET - 3
Session 2020-21
Class V A-F
Subject – Computer
Evolution of Computer
(History of the Computer)

*Please ensure that the child should read and understand the Summary given in worksheet 1
and 2 before learning the answers:-

The term ‘Computer’ came from the word ‘compute’, which means ‘to count’ or ‘’to calculate’.
Early men used their fingers, stones and bones to count.

ABACUS

Abacus was the first calculating device invented by Chinese

around 5000 years ago. The working of this device was based on
the movement of its beads up and down.

NAPIER’s BONES

Napier’s Bones was invented by John Napier (1550-1617), a Scottish

mathematician and scientist. This invention helped in multiplying,
dividing, taking square roots and cube roots. There are 9 different
bones or strips with numbers marked on them.

PASCAL’S CALCULATOR

The Pascaline, invented by Blaise Pascal (France) in 1642, was a

mechanical calculator. This device was invented for the purpose of
addition and subtraction, via turning discs at the bottom of the
device.

ANALYTICAL ENGINE

The Analytical Engine, an important step in the history of computer, was the fully-automatic
calculating machine, designed by Charles Babbage in 1833.He is known as “the father of
modern computer”. This machine was designed to perform complex mathematical calculations.

TABULATING MACHINE

In 1890, Herman Hollerith invented the tabulating machine to process the

data. This device could automatically read information which had been
punched on the card. In later years, Hollerith’s machine became very useful
for wide varieties of statistical applications

(1)
BOOLEAN LOGIC

George Boole was an English mathematician. He realized that complex mathematical problems
could be solved by reducing them to series of questions having either positive or negative
answers. He linked them with the binary number system and represented the positive results
by 1 and the negative ones by 0. This theory of Boolean Logic became the fundamental
principle for the design of computer circuitry.

MARK 1

Howard Aiken was the primary engineer in IBM, who developed the first automatic sequence-
controlled calculator, the Mark 1 in 1944.It was capable of executing long computations
automatically.

ENIAC

ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer), the first general purpose electronic
digital computer was invented by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert 1946.
It consisted of 18,000 vacuum tubes and was 1000 times faster than the Mark. It could add two
large numbers in 200 microseconds.

EDSAC

EDSAC was ( Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) designed by professor Sir Maurice
Wilkes at the University of Cambridge on May 6, 1949.This computer ran the first graphical
computer game, nicknamed ‘Baby’.

EDVAC

EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) is a modern type of computer came
into existence with John Von Neumann’s development of software, written in binary code. It
was John Von Neumann who started the practice of storing data and instructions in binary
code, in the memory. Neumann joined hands with Presper Eckert (American electrical
engineer) and John Mauchly (American physicist) in a consulting role and EDVAC was built
using binary code in 1950. It was an improved version of ENIAC.
EDVAC’S concept of storing different programs on punched cards led to the advancement of
computers that we know today.

UNIVAC I

UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was the world’s first commercially available
computer, designed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in 1951.
It was the first computer to handle both numeric and text data. It was also the first computer
that was equipped with magnetic tape unit and used the buffer memory

(A) Fill in the blanks:-

a) The term ‘Computer’ came from the word _________.

b) The working of _______device was based on the movement of its beads up and down.
c) _______ was the first calculating device.
d) There are _____ different bones or strips with numbers marked on them.

(2)
e) The Pascaline was a ________ calculator .
f) ________ machine was designed to perform complex mathematical calculations.
g) ________ device could automatically read information which had
been punched on the card.
h) ________ designed the Boolean logic.

(B) Match the following:-

a) Abacus 1642
b) Napier’s Bones 1833
c) Pascaline 1890
d) Analytical Engine 5000 years ago
e) Tabulating Machine 1617

(C) Write the full form:-

a) ENIAC –
b) EDSAC –
c) EDVAC –
d) UNIVAC I –

(D) Question and Answer:-

Q1) Write any two characteristics of computer in detail.

A1) Two characteristics of computer are:-

1) SPEED → Speed is the amount of time taken by the computer in completing the task. A
computer works very fast and can do large number of calculations quickly as
compared to a human being. Computers are classified on the basis of Instruction that they
execute per second.
2) ACCURACY → Accuracy refers to the degree of perfection of operations performed by a
computer. Computers do not commit errors and are capable of handling
complex instructions accurately. If the data fed into a computer is wrong, it may produce an
inaccurate result.

Q2) Mention three limitation of computer.

A1) Three limitation of computer are:-

1) INCAPABILITY TO THINK → A computer cannot think and take decision on its own.
In case of any error, it cannot take an alternative action.
2) NO INTELLIGENCE → Unlike human beings, a computer has no IQ. It needs
instructions at every step.
3) DEPENDENCE ON POWER → A computer is an electronic machine, thus its
dependence on power makes it costly.

Q3) Write a short note on the device – Abacus.

A3) Abacus was the first mechanical device for calculations, developed in China. It was made up
of a wooden frame with rods, each having beads. The frame is divided into two parts- Heaven
and Earth. Each rod in Heaven has 2 beads and each rod in Earth has 5 beads. It was used for
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
(3)
Q4) Give a brief explanation on Analytical Engine.

A4) Charles Babbage invented a working model of mechanical computer, called the Difference
Engine in 1822 and the Analytical Engine in 1833. The Analytical Engine had five units – Input,
Output, Store, Mill and Control. These units worked like the modern computer. All the
computers which are used nowadays, are based on it. Store was used for storing the data and
Mill was the Calculating Unit. Control unit was used for supervising all the units.

Q5) State the difference between second generation and third generation computers.

A5) SECOND GENERATION THIRD GENERATION

1) The second generation computers 1) Integrated circuits(IC) were used as the

used transistors in place of Vacuum main technology in these computers.
tubes.

2) These computers relied on Magnetic 2) Magnetic disks were used for the
Tapes. storage.

3) Fortran, Cobol, Basic languages came 3) PASCAL, RPG languages came into
into existence in this generation. use during this time.

4) Punched cards and paper tapes were 4) Keyboard was used as an input device.
used as input devices, and output was Whereas, Monitors and Printers were
presented through printouts. used as output devices.

5) These computers were faster, cheaper, 5) These computers were small in size,
smaller and more efficient than the had huge storage capacity, higher
computers of first generation. For calculating speed and reliability than
example: IBM 1400, IBM 350, etc the previous generation of computers.
For example: IBM System 360,
Apple 1, etc

(4)

END