DIFFERENTIAL ANALYZER
The biggest and cleverest mechanical brain of the analogue type which has yet been built is the differential analyzer finished in 1942 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. The fundamental physical quantity used in this machine is the amount of turning of a shaft. The name analyzer means an apparatus or machine for analyzing or solving problems. It happens that the word “analyzer” has been used rather more often in connection with analogue machines, and so in many cases the word “analyzer” carries the meaning “analogue” as well. The word “differential” in the phrase “differential analyzer” refers to the main purpose of the machine: it is specially adapted for solving problems involving differential equations. Now what is a differential equation?