Gears, Computers And Number Theory

UncleJosh writes: "The latest issue of American Scientist has an interesting article "On the Teeth of Wheels" about the relationship between gears, computers and number theory." It's as much a well-meshed detective story (hunting for books and obscure references) as a historical and mathematical introduction to the science of gears. Prime numbers, watchmakers and the Fibonacci sequence all play a part.

Comments

Math humor

[mbrubeck]

This reminds me of the classic math joke about a mathematician at a conference. After attending a number of presentations on number theory, abstract algebra, and so on, he was starting to feel that his knowledge was too esoteric, too divorced from the real world. So when he saw a talk entitled The Mathematical Theory of Gears, he thought, "This looks like something that'll help me get in touch with concrete applications."

So he went into the auditorium and sat down. The lecturer began: "The theory of gears with a finite number of teeth is well-understood. However..."

Mechanical Computers

[Grant Elliott]

I did some research in the field of mechanical computers a while back. (Right after I built my own : ) It's an interesting field. Anyway, I thought someone might want to see these related sites on the history of mechanical computers.

The History of Mechanical Computers

Early Calculators

Zuse