A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters , which use the turning of gears to increment output displays. More complex examples could carry out multiplication and division—Friden used a moving head which paused at each column—and even differential analysis . One model, the Ascota 170 accounting machine sold in the 1960s, calculated square roots .
13-521: (Redirected from Z-2 ) Z2 may refer to: Z2 (computer) , a computer created by Konrad Zuse Z2 (company) , video game developer Z2 Comics , a publisher of graphic novels Z 2 {\displaystyle \mathbb {Z} _{2}} , the quotient ring of the ring of integers modulo the ideal of even numbers, alternatively denoted by Z / 2 Z {\displaystyle \mathbb {Z} /2\mathbb {Z} } Z 2 ,
26-589: A 2010 film Zoolander 2 , a 2016 film See also [ edit ] 2Z (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Z2&oldid=1234667524 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
39-495: A carefully choreographed progression. Data on the cards could be added, subtracted and compared with other data and, later, multiplied as well. This progression, or flow, from machine to machine was often planned and documented with detailed flowcharts . All but the earliest machines had high-speed mechanical feeders to process cards at rates from around 100 to 2,000 per minute, sensing punched holes with mechanical, electrical, or, later, optical sensors. The operation of many machines
52-465: A one-item-per-card basis. Unit record machines came to be as ubiquitous in industry and government in the first two-thirds of the twentieth century as computers became in the last third. They allowed large volume, sophisticated data-processing tasks to be accomplished before electronic computers were invented and while they were still in their infancy. This data processing was accomplished by processing punched cards through various unit record machines in
65-662: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Z2 (computer) The Z2 was an electromechanical (mechanical and relay-based) digital computer that was completed by Konrad Zuse in 1940. It was an improvement on the Z1 Zuse built in his parents' home, which used the same mechanical memory . In the Z2, he replaced the arithmetic and control logic with 600 electrical relay circuits, weighing over 600 pounds. The Z2 could read 64 words from punch cards. Photographs and plans for
78-717: The cyclic group of order 2 GF(2) , the Galois field of 2 elements, alternatively written as Z 2 Z 2 , the standard axiomatization of second-order arithmetic Z² (album) , an album by Devin Townsend German destroyer Z2 Georg Thiele , a Type 1934 destroyer in the German Kriegsmarine USS Ringgold (DD-500) , a destroyer transferred to the German Navy as Z-2 in 1959 Westinghouse Airships Z-2 blimp prototype for
91-552: The U.S. Navy Kawasaki Z2 , a motorcycle RAID-Z2 , a way to combine multiple disk drives in a computer Zelda II: The Adventure of Link , the second video game in the Legend of Zelda series Zork II , a computer game A wireless speaker system from Bowers & Wilkins Philippines AirAsia , an airline based in Pasay, Philippines The Sony Xperia Z2 , an Android smartphone Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City ,
104-927: The Z2 were destroyed by the Allied bombing during World War II . In contrast to the Z1, the Z2 used 16-bit fixed-point arithmetic instead of 22-bit floating point . Zuse presented the Z2 in 1940 to members of the DVL (today DLR ) and member Alfred Teichmann [ de ] , whose support helped fund the successor model Z3 . This computer hardware article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Electromechanical computer Mechanical computers can be either analog , using continuous or smooth mechanisms such as curved plates or slide rules for computations; or discrete , which use mechanisms like pinwheels and gears. Mechanical computers reached their zenith during World War II, when they formed
117-433: The advent of electronic computers , data processing was performed using electromechanical machines collectively referred to as unit record equipment , electric accounting machines ( EAM ) or tabulating machines . By 1887, Herman Hollerith had worked out the basis for a mechanical system of recording, compiling and tabulating census facts. "Unit record" data processing equipment uses punchcards to carry information on
130-633: The basis of complex bombsights including the Norden , as well as the similar devices for ship computations such as the US Torpedo Data Computer or British Admiralty Fire Control Table . Noteworthy are mechanical flight instruments for early spacecraft, which provided their computed output not in the form of digits, but through the displacements of indicator surfaces. From Yuri Gagarin 's first spaceflight until 2002, every crewed Soviet and Russian spacecraft Vostok , Voskhod and Soyuz
143-434: The evolution occurred in the 1970s, with the introduction of inexpensive handheld electronic calculators. The use of mechanical computers declined in the 1970s and was rare by the 1980s. In 2016, NASA announced that its Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments program would use a mechanical computer to operate in the harsh environmental conditions found on Venus . Starting at the end of the nineteenth century, well before
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#1732783786001156-500: Was directed by the use of a removable plugboard , control panel , or connection box . Early electrically powered computers constructed from switches and relay logic rather than vacuum tubes (thermionic valves) or transistors (from which later electronic computers were constructed) are classified as electro-mechanical computers. These varied greatly in design and capabilities, with some units capable of floating point arithmetic. Some relay-based computers remained in service after
169-511: Was equipped with a Globus instrument showing the apparent movement of the Earth under the spacecraft through the displacement of a miniature terrestrial globe , plus latitude and longitude indicators. Mechanical computers continued to be used into the 1960s, but had steadily been losing ground to digital computers since their advent. By the mid-1960s dedicated electronic calculators with cathode-ray tube output emerged. The next step in
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