YACS: A simple multiplication on the Curta mechanical calculator. July, 2013.
YACS: A simple multiplication on the Curta mechanical calculator [link]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
Demo of a multiplication on the Curta mechanical calculator. We calculate 1259 * 298 = 375182 After setting 1259 on the setters we can calculate in a few different ways. Each example includes restoring the crank to ADD-mode and the carriage to the x1 position. 1 Do it the dumb way and wear out the Curta - Crank of 298 times. a total of 298 actions. A better way is: - crank 8 times - move carriage to the x10 position - crank 9 times - move carriage to the x100 position - crank 2 times - move carriage to the x1 position a total of 22 actions. A much better way (as shown in the video) is: - observe that 298 * 1259 equals ( 300 - 2 ) * 1259 - move carriage to the x100 position - crank 3 times - move carriage to the x1 position - pull crank for SUB mode - crank 2 times - push crank for ADD-mode a total of 9 actions. A bit of thinking saves time and wear and tear on the Curta. Created with YACS ( Yet Another Curta Simulator ) To play with the real model visit: http://members.chello.nl/o.veenstra3/vrml/curta_info/curta_demo.html
@misc{noauthor_yacs:_2013-2,
	title = {{YACS}: {A} simple multiplication on the {Curta} mechanical calculator},
	shorttitle = {{YACS}},
	url = {http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1witCGVEIw&feature=youtube_gdata_player},
	abstract = {Demo of a multiplication on the Curta mechanical calculator.

We calculate 1259 * 298 = 375182

After setting 1259 on the setters we can calculate in a few different ways.
Each example includes restoring the crank to ADD-mode and the carriage to the x1 position. 


1 Do it the dumb way and wear out the Curta
- Crank of 298 times.

a total of 298 actions.


A better way is:
- crank 8 times
- move carriage to the x10 position
- crank 9 times
- move carriage to the x100 position
- crank 2 times
- move carriage to the x1 position

a total of 22 actions.


A much better way (as shown in the video) is:
- observe that 298 * 1259 equals ( 300 - 2 ) * 1259
- move carriage to the x100 position
- crank 3 times
- move carriage to the x1 position
- pull crank for SUB mode
- crank 2 times
- push crank for ADD-mode

a total of 9 actions.


A bit of thinking saves time and wear and tear on the Curta.

Created with YACS ( Yet Another Curta Simulator )

To play with the real model visit:

http://members.chello.nl/o.veenstra3/vrml/curta\_info/curta\_demo.html},
	urldate = {2013-12-09},
	month = jul,
	year = {2013},
}

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