Where does this come from, and can I check it?

The mechanical calculator used gear wheels and cog positions to compute polynomial functions. The figure is taken from Science Museum Group, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine to calculate mathematical tables

The mechanical calculator used gear wheels and cog positions to compute polynomial functions

In the 1820s, English mathematician Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine to compute error-free logarithmic and astronomical tables automatically. Operating entirely via hand-cranked gears and cogs, it calculated values using the method of finite differences. The Science Museum in London successfully constructed a working Difference Engine No. 2 in 1991 from Babbage's original drawings.

Babbage Difference Engine (Polynomial) — Jitze Couperus from Los Altos Hills, California, USA · CC BY 2.0 · licence · source

Where this comes from

Science Museum Group

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Tags: babbage, computing, history

Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine to calculate mathematical tables: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: The mechanical calculator used gear wheels and cog positions to compute polynomial functions. The figure is taken from Science Museum Group, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a technology fact?: Yes. It sits on the Technology shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.