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Foundation and History of Computer Science

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INTRODUCTION
Computers and computation have been around for a long time and were developed over many years with immense contributions from inventors, engineers, physicists, philosophers, mathematicians, technicians, scholars, and visionaries. Right from ancient times, when man used his fingers to count and keep record and straight to the era of ancient civilisations, computation had been paramount in almost everyday life. The Babylonians used base 60 to calculate and tell hours of the day a format which is still used up to this day, the ancient Egyptians needed math for practical problems: measuring time, flooding of the Nile, cooking and baking, book keeping and accounting, taxes. They also made the first math textbook, which contained the first trigonometry including sine, cosine, tangent, and cotangent (sin = o/h, cos = a/h. tan = o/a, cot = a/o), which has been one of the basis of mathematical calculations till date. The Greeks brought the Pythagorean theory; the Romans brought the Roman Numerals and even the Islam brought the “al jabr” which is known today as “Algebra”. The Chinese brought the remainder theorem and the Indians developed the decimal system, zero and negative numbers, and did early trigonometric work on the sine and cosine.
The first computers were calculating machines and over time evolved into the digital computers, as we know them today. It has taken over 180 years for the computer to develop from an idea in Charles Babbage head into an actual computer developed today by many different companies. Therefore, it was a long and tedious path in order to make the computer into what we now use today.
However, this paper will focus on Charles Babbage and his contributions to modern day computing technology. This paper will start from his early years and turning point in the world of computers.
HIS EARLY YEARS
Charles Babbage was an English

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