From Napier to Lucas: The Use of Napier's Bones in Calculating Instruments
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TL;DR
The paper surveys the development of different types of calculating machines that have used the idea of John Napier's "bones" and discusses the machines of such mathematicians as Wilhelm Schickard, Samuel Morland, Gaspard Schott, Athanasius Kircher, Edouard Lucas, and Henri Genaille.
Abstract
The paper surveys the development of different types of calculating machines that have used the idea of John Napier's After showing how to use the bones, the paper discusses the machines of such mathematicians as Wilhelm Schickard, Samuel Morland, Gaspard Schott, Athanasius Kircher, Edouard Lucas, and Henri Genaille. A newly discovered manuscript by Rene Grillet (from the late seventeenth century) provided the base for a study of Grillet's work and a remarkable arithmetic instrument he invented in 1678, using the idea of Napier's bones.