Computers, ...OK my first machine was a 1401 and it had 4K of memory, that's right, only 4K.
My first was an 1130 which had been upgraded from the basic model to have 8K of core memory�, which meant the most precision I was ever able to coax out of it when computing numbers to ridiculous numbers of decimal places was about 7500 digits (using software which stored 4 digits in a word), and about the biggest matrices I could get it to compute with were 25x25 with the entries in extended precision.
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�When you perform the necessary conversion from 16-bit words to bytes, my HP-48 came with 8 times as much memory . . . and it does all its calculations to 12 significant figures, while even extended precision on the 1130 was only 9 digits. And it fits in your pocket . . . okay, your coat pocket.
-- Ronn! :)
I. B. M. U. B. M. We all B. M. For I. B. M.
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