Faster than a computer
QUESTION
What was a comptometer?
A comptometer was an electromechanical calculating machine. It was often described erroneously as an adding machine, but by the correct operation of the keys, a skilled operator could perform all arithmetical operations.
Patented in 1887 by the American inventor Dorr e. Felt, these key- driven machines were used extensively in offices up to the Seventies when they were gradually superseded by electronic calculators and computers.
Their use lingered into the Nineties because they were much faster than their high-tech replacements.
Comptometers were often favoured by auditors who did not want to have to rely on the computer system of the firm they were checking.
my future wife left school at 15 in 1957 and went on a full-time course to learn how to operate a Burroughs comptometer.
the course lasted six months and included many tests of speed and accuracy. once qualified, she could go into any office in any industry and carry out whatever calculations they wanted.
She worked as a comptometer operator until she left work to have our son in 1970. returning to work a few years later when our son was old enough, it appeared that comptometer operators were no longer required. then she spotted an advertisement for one in the late eighties.
She sat down in front of a comptometer and it all came back to her. She was as fast as ever, so had a few more years doing her favourite job.
Weighing 26lb, a comptometer was a solid piece of mains- powered office equipment. It was just over a foot wide, a foot deep from front to rear and 7 in tall at the back, with the keyboard angled towards the operator.
the 108 keys were arranged in 12 columns of nine keys, plus five more to allow for 12 pence in a shilling, a quarter penny (farthing), half-penny and three farthings.
there was a single large key on the right for resetting the machine to zero.
most of the keys in the columns were marked with large numbers from one to nine, the key nearest the operator being marked with a one. they were also marked with small numbers, which were used when doing subtraction and division.
to aid the operator in positioning their fingers on the keyboard, odd-numbered keys had slightly bigger indentations than even-numbered keys.
At the front of the machine was a 14digit mechanical display. the operator could press up to nine keys at once to enter a nine-digit number. this was why the comptometer was faster than a pocket calculator, where you have to enter the nine digits sequentially.
the comptometer was mainly used in offices for addition, but by the correct manipulation of the keys it was possible to do subtraction, multiplication and division, again much faster than with a pocket calculator.
Denis Sharp, Littlehampton, W. Sussex.
QUESTION Are the glaciers in Glacier National Park, Montana, growing?
No, THEY are, in fact, shrinking.
In 2009, the authorities at the millionacre Glacier National park erected signs stating: ‘the small alpine glaciers present today . . . are now rapidly shrinking due to human-caused climate change . . .
‘computer models indicate the glaciers will all be gone by the year 2020.’ As many of the glaciers are still there, the authorities were forced to alter the sign to state: ‘When they will completely disappear, however, depends on how and when we act.’
this was leapt upon by anti- climate change activists. A fake organisation calling itself Lysander Spooner University claimed it had evidence that two of the glaciers, Grinnell and Jackson, had grown significantly in that time.
What we do know is that in 1910, when the park was established, there were more than 100 glaciers.
In 2015, there were 26 remaining that were greater than 25 acres in size, the criteria used by the U.S. Geological Survey to define a glacier.
All the glaciers had reduced since 1966, some shrinking by up to 85 per cent.
Rachel Herriman, Mirfield, W. Yorks.
QUESTION Do 100m runners hold their breath when they race?
THE standard advice for sprinters is to hold your breath through acceleration, but to otherwise breathe normally.
Warren Doscher in the Art of Sprinting advises that the athlete should make a generous inhalation while awaiting the starting gun. this breath is held to ensure an ‘internal quiet’ so the runner can best respond to the starting gun.
It will also inflate the lungs so the first steps of the race can be taken without the necessity of taking another breath. this is important as you can’t develop maximum power while breathing.
For the legs to achieve maximum speed, the diaphragm muscles must temporarily be held rigid in order to ensure the high internal body pressure required to explode from the blocks.
However, runners should not consciously hold their breath longer than feels natural.
Studies have shown that athletes can run for six to seven seconds utilising lactic energy stored in their muscles.
once runners are through the power phase of the sprint, they are advised to breathe normally. Usain Bolt only required a couple of breaths to run 100 metres in 9.58 seconds.
Colin Pope, Loughborough, Leics.
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