Introduction
The world of business has changed dramatically since the introduction of the first modern multipurpose computer over 50 years ago. The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), designed by Drs. Mauchly and Eckert, two American engineers, was set up at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. This 30-ton machine occupied a thirty-by-thirty room, contained 18,000 vacuum tubes linked by 500 miles of wiring, and could perform 100,000 operations per second. It consumed so much electricity that it dimmed the lights in the section of Philadelphia where it was housed. Thanks to the development of the integrated chip, the computer has evolved into a far smaller, more powerful, and less expensive machine. Today’s microcomputer is 3,000 times lighter than the ENIAC, performs 4000 times faster, and costs several million dollars less. Other innovations have made the computer easy enough for a child to use and versatile enough for applications ranging from astrophysics to arcade-style games. As a consequence of their decreasing size and cost, computers can be found today in virtually every corner of American society, from research facilities and corporate headquarters, to schools and homes. You need only look around a business office to see evidence of the computer revolution. In a large office you might find a variety of computers, ranging in size from a mainframe computer housed in a room of its own, to a palm-sized “personal assistant” tucked into an executive’s briefcase. A growing number of professions rely on computers, and accounting is one of them. This introduction will provide you with the fundamentals of computer hardware and software to help you prepare for the material presented in the text.

Some Basic Terms Defined

Hardware is the physical parts of a computer system that you can see and touch. Besides the main box of the computer