Leslie John Comrie (11 results)
- Hardcover
Seller: Better World Books Ltd, Dunfermline, United KingdomBetter World Books Ltd
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Good
£ 10.96
£ 5.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Condition: Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
- Hardcover
Seller: J J Basset Books, bassettbooks, bookfarm.co.uk, Peter Tavy, United KingdomJ J Basset Books, bassettbooks, bookfarm.co.uk
Contact seller4-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 6.00
£ 20.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Blue Cloth. Condition: VERY GOOD ( AVERAGE). Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket ( Good). Reprint. This book is part of a large purchase from a Public Sector Library and except where mentioned are for the most part LIKE NEW! MOSTLY the ONLY flaws are the blacked out (they insisted) Library stamps which show many of them to be UNU…SED! This copy is Very Good (AVERAGE) FEEL FREE TO E-MAIL FOR PHOTOGRAPHS AND FURTHER DETAILS. FROM A DEALER WHO TELLS YOU WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEIR TELEPHONE AND ADDRESS CONTACT DETAILS ARE! Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. EX PUBLIC SECTOR LIBRARY BLACK.
Published by D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York 1949
- Hardcover
- First Edition
Seller: SUNSET BOOKS 2, Newark, OH, U.S.A.SUNSET BOOKS 2
Contact seller5-star sellerHardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. 1st. 576/576pp in TWO volume, w/full markings, pocket, and/or bookplatewear/soil. Weight is 6.25 lb. Will not fit in Flat Rate Priority Mail envelope. USPS Variable Rate applies for Domestic or International. Ex-Library Size: 4to Size: 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. Ex-Library.
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by The Institute of Physics and the National Laboratory, London 1944
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Boris Jardine Rare Books, Edinburgh, United KingdomBoris Jardine Rare Books
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 250.00
£ 17.95 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Two single journal issues in printed wraps; 274 x 198mm; pp 129-148, article at 129-135 (August), and 205-220, letter at pp. 218-219. SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING PERFECTED One of the most substantial treatments of the use of everyday office machinery in 'scientific computing', only matched… in detail in Comrie's own writings, in particular his 1946 article for Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation. Comrie begins with the Differential Analyzer - perhaps the most obvious competitor for his own practice of adapting office machinery to scientific ends. A very revealing section of the paper deals with 'The Training of Computers', i.e. the ways in which human 'computers' will have to adapt to the new machine methods: "[Computing] is often given to or falls to the lot of people who by their very temperament do not take kindly to it if it gets beyond the slide rule stage, or takes more than five minutes. Among these people I include mathematicians, engineers, draughtsmen and, I am sorry to say, even some physicists." From here Comrie moves on to pen-and-paper integration, the method of finite differences, double-entry interpolation, the use of punched card machines - here referring to his famous calculation of the Moon's motion down to the year 2000 - as well as the solution of simultaneous equations and finally the construction of mathematical tables. One interested reader of the article was R.R.M. Mallock, of the Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory, whose machine for simultaneous equations was rather rudely dismissed by Comrie. The December 1944 issue contains Mallock's response to Comrie, followed by an apology by Comrie, in which he states clearly his preference for mass-produced over one-off machines - a theme that to recur throughout subsequent decades. Very good condition: stamped ('stack') to front cover but otherwise unmarked; stitched as issued; light cover marking and edge-wear; paper flaw to pp. 133-134 of the August issue, affecting 5 or 6 words. References: not in OOC, but see nos 253ff.
More imagesLanguage: English
Published by Royal Astronomical Society, London 1928
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Boris Jardine Rare Books, Edinburgh, United KingdomBoris Jardine Rare Books
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 650.00
£ 17.95 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Offprint from: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 88 (April 1928), in grey printed wraps, stitched; 227 x 147mm; pp. [half-title], [506]-523. THE ORIGIN OF SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING The first step on the road to modern computer architecture. Here L.J. Comrie adapts a… commercial punched card calculating machine for the purpose of creating mathematical tables, i.e. 'scientific computing'. In this paper - the first in a sequence explaining his methods, Comrie compares two methods of constructing astronomical tables by interpolation, favouring a simple method that is amenable to the use of a range of calculating machines. Comrie's innovation was to rethink the way data are handled, fundamentally altering the standard office-based practices of the time, and paving the way for Harvard's later 'Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator', which turned Comrie's 'batch' method into the 'sequential' approach (performing multiple calculations on a single datum) that would become standard in computer design in the later 1940s. Comrie was an astronomer, who worked at the British Nautical Almanac Office from 1925, and quickly began exploring the ways in which office calculating machines could be adapted for scientific use. In the present paper he. Over subsequent years Comrie refined and adapted these methods, and in 1936 he left the Admiralty to set up the Scientific Computing Service, paving the way for the electronic digital revolution: "He laid a solid foundation for the computational revolution that was to follow the introduction of the electronic computer: he showed how to 'program' commercial machines for scientific computation; developed impeccable interpolation techniques; produced mathematical tables of the highest standards of accuracy and presentation (DSB)" Very good condition: two previous owner inscriptions to the upper edge of the front cover; ink mark to rear cover, otherwise near fine. References: Paul Ceruzzi, 'Crossing the Divide: Architectural Issues and the Emergence of the Stored Program Computer, 1935-1955', IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 19 (1997), pp. 5-12; OOC 258.
Language: English
- Hardcover
- Print on Demand
Seller: S N Books World, Delhi, , IndiaS N Books World
Contact seller5-star sellerLeatherBound. Condition: New. BOOKS ARE EXEMPT FROM IMPORT DUTIES AND TARIFFS; NO EXTRA CHARGES APPLY. Leatherbound edition. Condition: New. Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. Bound in genuine leather with Satin ribbon page markers and Spine with raised gilt bands. Pages: 40. A perfect gift…for your loved ones. Reprinted from 1931 edition. NO changes have been made to the original text. This is NOT a retyped or an ocr'd reprint. Illustrations, Index, if any, are included in black and white. Each page is checked manually before printing. As this print on demand book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages, but we always try to make the book as complete as possible. Fold-outs, if any, are not part of the book. If the original book was published in multiple volumes then this reprint is of only one volume, not the whole set. IF YOU WISH TO ORDER PARTICULAR VOLUME OR ALL THE VOLUMES YOU CAN CONTACT US. Resized as per current standards. Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Language: English Pages: 40.
Published by Royal Astronomical Society, GB 1928
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Richard Sylvanus Williams (Est 1976), WINTERTON, , United KingdomRichard Sylvanus Williams (Est 1976)
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Very good
£ 99.00
£ 32.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Paperback. Condition: VG+. 1st Edition. Publishers pale grey printed wrappers (slightly dust marked). Label announcing a meeting originally glued to upper wrapper now loosely inserted. Else Book is in very good plus condition with very minor signs of wear and/or age.
More imagesPublished by Edinburgh: Printed by Neill and Co., Ltd. 1928
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Deightons, Bournemouth, , United KingdomDeightons
Contact seller4-star sellerCondition: Used - Near fine
£ 240.00
£ 20.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. 8vo, 13 pages, numbered [447] to 459, one plate illustrated on both sides, excellent copy centre-stitched in original printed wraps.VG+.
More imagesMathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation [MTAC]
[EARLY COMPUTING] Archibald, Raymond Clare; Comrie, Leslie John ; Joffe, Solomon Achillovoich
Published by The National research Council, Washington, D. C. 1943
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Kuenzig Books ( ABAA / ILAB ), Topsfield, MA, U.S.A.Kuenzig Books ( ABAA / ILAB )
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used - Near fine
£ 3,167.34
£ 4.47 shippingShips within U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Wraps. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. First Edition. We offer a nearly complete run of this important early computer serial: Numbers 1, 2, 5-59, 66-70, each in the original wrappers as published. Small quarto and octavo sizes, approx 12 inches shelf space. Occasional minor soiling. From the library of Frank M. Verzuh, with… his name on some covers. Wraps. MTAC is the first period journal devoted entirely to the literature of computation. The journal had a very small subscription base in the early years. Through 1946, it's subscription list was less than 350 readers. Many were discarded as computing advanced at a rapid pace. As of this writing, Worldcat shows less than 80 institutions with even partial runs. The first volume contains lists and descriptions of printed tables, where they were published, as well as new errors discovered in the published sources. These errors, introduced by humans whose job description were "computers", continued to appear until mechanical computers significantly reduced and eventually eliminated them. Large businesses, military and financial operations used these tables to save time - so error notices were important. Later issues particularly in Volume 2 of this serial) contained interesting and groundbreaking material related to the development of computers as we know them today. Previous owner Professor FM Verzuh attended the Moore School lectures and was a participant in early computering at MIT. The fact that this serial was still present on his shelf at his retirement is an indication of it's importance. Scarce in the marketplace. See Origins of Cyberspace 777 for a detailed description and history of the serial, which was published in a total of 14 volumes until a title change in 1960. Important articles included in this run include Origins of Cyberspace 577, 579, 1077, and 1078. "MTAC remains the primary periodical source of information on the electromechanical and electronic digital computers designed and built during the late 1940s and early 1950s, as well as on the scientific uses of punched-card machines, mechanical desk calculators, etc" It also served as a journal of record for the newly formed Association of Computing Machinery until the founding of their own journal in January 1954.
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Jeremy Norman's historyofscience, Novato, CA, U.S.A.Jeremy Norman's historyofscience
Contact seller4-star sellerComrie, Leslie John (1893-1950). Mathematical tables. Offprint from Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 92 (February 1932). [2], [339]-347 [1]pp. 255 x 173 mm. Original gray printed wrappers, a bit sunned. First Edition. "The new tables reflect the modern tendency towards the use of calculating machines in three wa…ys-first, by the extensive use of machines in their making, as reported in prefaces; secondly, by the fact that logarithmic values are tending to be superseded by natural; and thirdly, because the possession of a machine is virtually assumed in tables of special functions, where a wide interval is used and several even orders of differences provided" (p. 339). Origins of Cyberspace 264.
- Softcover
- First Edition
Seller: Jeremy Norman's historyofscience, Novato, CA, U.S.A.Jeremy Norman's historyofscience
Contact seller4-star sellerComrie, Leslie John (1893-1950). The application of the Hollerith tabulating machine to Brown's tables of the moon. Offprint from Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 92 (May 1932). [1], [694]-707, [1]pp. 3 plates, text illustrations. 257 x 173 mm. Original gray printed wrappers, slightly worn. Very good. First Sepa…rate Edition. Comrie pioneered the use of commercial accounting machines in scientific applications, especially in the production of mathematical tables. The above offprint describes the first use of a punched-card tabulating system in a purely scientific application-calculating the position of the moon at noon and midnight from 1935 to the end of the twentieth century (punched-card tabulators, invented by Herman Hollerith in the 1880s, reigned as the primary means of large-scale data processing prior to the advent of the electronic digital computer). Punching the half-million cards needed for this enormous calculating project took six months, and the calculations, performed at Britain's Nautical Almanac Office, took an additional seven months to complete. The American astronomer E. W. Brown, whose Tables of the Motion of the Moon (1919) supplied the necessary data, was an observer of the process. "Comrie often recalled the 'ecstacies of rapture' with which Brown watched the addition of his own figures at the rate of 20 or 30 a second. The enthusiasm with which Professor Brown described the process of his return to America probably stimulated W. J. Eckert, the leading American pioneer, in the application of these machines to scientific calculations" (Bowden, Faster than Thought, p. 26). Origins of Cyberspace 266. .
