Chapter 288 One-year appointment! (7.6k)
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Inside Faraday's office.
Hearing Xu Yun's words, "Do you want to understand the meaning of computers and truly live?" 'after.
A trace of doubt appeared on the faces of Babbage, Ada and Earl Lovelace almost at the same time:
Who is forcing this?
Not only could this person sit alongside Gauss Faraday, he also dared to speak before these two big men.
If it weren't for same-sex couples not being able to have children these days, Babbage would probably have regarded Xu Yun as the child of Faraday and Gauss's love.
Then he looked at Xu Yun cautiously, looked away quickly, and asked:
"Sir, what do you mean by this?"
"Just call me Luo Feng, Mr. Charles."
Xu Yun briefly introduced himself, then paused and continued:
"What I mean is actually very simple - are you interested in making a deal?"
Babbage and Ada looked at each other, their expressions gradually becoming serious:
"What deal?"
Xu Yun smiled at him, stretched out a finger, and explained:
"Trinity College will invest a sum of money in your project, the amount of which is no less than fifty thousand pounds, and you will build an analytical engine in accordance with the requirements of the college."
Babbage's face did not loosen at all when he heard this, but looked at Gauss and Faraday.
There is actually nothing wrong with Xu Yun's words in itself, but when they are spoken by a young man like Xu Yun, it becomes a big problem.
Seeing Babbage's eyes constantly drifting towards him, Gauss couldn't help but explain:
"Mr. Charles, Luo Feng is the initiator of this investment. What he says can fully represent the will of the Cambridge School Board."
Babbage was stunned.
On the way to Cambridge, he had discussed with Ada and his wife the reasons behind the invitation from Cambridge University.
The three of them complemented each other and made various judgments about possible situations.
For example, Ada guessed that Prince Albert might be interested in the Analytical Engine, so he invited himself over in the name of Cambridge University to discuss it in detail.
Babbage suggested that it might have been William Whewell, the dean of Trinity College who persuaded the school board - William Whewell and William Herschel were close friends and pioneers of hypotheticalism.
As for Babbage, he was a close friend of William Herschel's son, John Herschel, who had helped him a lot over the years.
John Herschel persuaded Whewell through his father, and Whewell convinced the school board. This possibility still existed.
Even Count Lovelace was so excited that Kennedy was possessed and came up with a weird idea:
Did the astrology fortune teller of the royal family discover some omen, and come up with some astronomical omen that "the number table is dead and the difference is established".
But despite all their calculations, they never expected that the scene would be like this:
A young and outrageous Easterner started the conversation, and according to Gauss, this person was not only the proposer of cooperation, but also had the decision-making power in today's meeting.
How is this possible?
If it were a white or mixed-race person of similar age, Babbage could still guess from the perspective of a descendant of the aristocracy, but an Oriental
Seeing that Babbage was a little confused, Gauss thought for a while and then added:
"By the way, Charles, you should know about the 'Conan Star' discovered by the Cambridge University organization three days ago, right?"
Babbage nodded and replied:
"Of course I know, even the workers in London are discussing it now."
When Gao Si saw this, he patted Xu Yun on the shoulder and explained:
"Luo Feng is the organizer of the stargazing event. Without the plan he proposed, we would never have been able to find the planet."
Babbage was stunned for a few seconds when he heard this, then suddenly slapped his forehead and said in realization:
"So it turns out that classmate Luo Feng is the descendant of Mr. Fat Fish?"
At this time, three days have passed since the Pluto observation night, and news about that night has also spread to all parties.
Although the European Astronomical Society, out of caution, claimed that more detailed observations are needed to make a final determination, private and individual astronomers have no such concerns.
They conducted observations as early as the night when the news was reported, and the observation results proved one point without exception:
‘Conan’ is indeed an undiscovered planet!
In the past three days.
As big as the Times, as small as the Wilshire News.
All European print media are reporting this incident crazily, to the extent that it can be called a massacre.
Common words in the British media include Cambridge University, George Bedell Airy, Faraday, Earl Ellis, etc.
The German media focused on the German reinforcements such as Gauss, Riemann, and Jacobi.
The shameful hat originally placed on George Bedell Airy's head has been completely removed, and the director of the Greenwich Observatory has once again become a hero.
As for the Ellis father and son, they were more unlucky - many public opinions believed that it was their obstruction that led to the shortage of manpower in the mathematics department recruited by the Gewu Society, which gave Germans like Gauss the opportunity to intervene.
The glory that should have belonged solely to the British Empire was now being forcibly divided into half by Germany.
Although these remarks did not cause substantial harm to the Ellis family, they made them somewhat disgraced for a while.
Babbage knew more than print media.
His good friend John Herschel came to him excitedly the next day and told him about it.
Don't forget.
John Herschel's father was William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus.
Babbage roughly understood the details of the incident from the mouth of John Herschel, and also heard that there was such an Eastern student who was a "descendant of fat fish", who played an important role in the entire process.
It's just that Babbage was focused on the details of today's meeting with the head of Barclays Bank, and his attitude was relatively perfunctory.
I wouldn't say he's a genius, but he really doesn't take it too seriously.
But now that I heard what Gauss said, this part of the memory was revived.
Think of this.
Babbage looked at Xu Yun with a more formal look:
Descendants of that legendary man
Maybe he really could see the potential of the Analytical Engine?
Then he suppressed his excitement and pretended to be calm and asked Xu Yun:
"Mr. Luo Feng, I wonder what type of analytical machine you want us to design?"
Xu Yun glanced at Babbage's clenched knuckles, took out a few pieces of paper from his side, placed them on the table and pushed them over with one finger:
"Mr. Charles, the requirements are all here, you can take a look first."
Babbage and Ada looked at each other, then took the paper and read it with some anxiety.
"Can store ten thousand 50-digit numbers and can automatically solve 500 variables."
"Each number is required to reach 35 digits, and the operation speed is two to three times per second"
“In addition, it must be possible to verify at least two coordinate systems among ecliptic coordinates, galactic coordinates, and equatorial coordinates.”
After quietly reading the requirements listed by Xu Yun, Babbage's face looked a little uncertain.
After a while.
His shoulders suddenly slumped, and he exhaled weakly, but his expression looked very sincere:
"Sorry, Mr. Luo Feng."
"Although I really want to get this investment, I don't want to trick you - to be honest, let alone say 100% of the requirements on paper, we can't even achieve 20% now"
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Ada on the side opened her mouth when she saw this, wanting to say something.
But in the end he didn't speak.
As Babbage said.
The data given by Xu Yun had no possibility of being completed at all.
Based on Babbage's design.
His 'Analysis Engine' has three modules:
One is the gear-type "storage warehouse", which Babbage called a "warehouse".
That is where the data is stored.
The second component of the Analytical Engine was the so-called "operating room", which Babbage named "the workshop".
Its basic principle is similar to Pascal's wheel, which uses meshing, rotation, translation, etc. between gears to perform digital operations.
The third part, Babbage did not give it a specific name, its function is to use the "0" and "1" in the Jaccard punch card to control the sequence of computing operations, similar to the controller in a computer.
The computing power comes from the steam engine, and Ada is responsible for other commands.
Among the requirements given by Xu Yun.
Data storage is the simplest and the only aspect that can be achieved.
The carrier used by Babbage to store data is gears. Each gear can store 10 numbers, and the array of gears can store a total of 1,000 50-digit numbers.
If you want to expand the list to the 10,000 required by Xu Yun, you only need to add more gears - this is not difficult if you have sufficient funds.
But the rest of the data is quite out of scope.
At present, the calculation accuracy that Babbage can achieve is only 24 digits, and 80 variables can be automatically solved. The remaining links do not even have specific results.
If you really calculate it.
His equipment could only solve second-order difference calculations and produce a seven-digit result, which was already the limit.
Actually.
Babbage was not the kind of person with very noble moral character. For example, in order to obtain more profits, he even cut corners in the chess toys he sold.
But as the saying goes.
A scholar dies for a confidant.
After encountering countless rejections and cold looks, Babbage suddenly learned that Cambridge University was willing to invest such a large sum of money in him. While Babbage was moved in his heart, he also rarely considered the investors:
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Once so much money is wasted, Xu Yun, as the main leader of the project, may not have a good life.
And opposite him.
Seeing that Babbage's expression was a bit complicated, Xu Yun also shook his head with emotion.
Three days ago.
After making a one-year agreement with Gauss, he discovered that there was a very real problem in front of him:
Europe now has 34 top observatories. With the mobilization of Gauss and Faraday, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of photos can be taken a year.
The amount of operations and errors involved in this kind of base number cannot be solved by just a few more mathematicians.
at the same time.
Xu Yun knows better than anyone else that the mysterious planet is extremely far away from the earth. It is not as simple as one or two astronomical units farther than Pluto.
Although later generations have not discovered the specific location of the planet, the general area can still be locked through abnormal celestial bodies.
Therefore, data analysis is difficult to solve by relying on manpower alone.
This is a very real problem, and it is not something that you can just shout a few slogans and get over it with a lot of enthusiasm.
So it's natural.
Xu Yun thought of the pairing of Babbage and Ada.
to be honest.
Throughout the 19th century, even Babbage and Ada themselves probably did not know what kind of undertaking they were engaged in.
Their thinking was too advanced, a full hundred years ahead of their time, and there was a gap with the entire era.
In the words of a certain red-haired person, it is a product that should not exist in this ancient history.
They thought they were making hiking boots. After climbing a hill, a cliff appeared in front of them, and they lamented that they had reached a dead end.
But only Xu Yun knew.
What they created was actually a pair of wings, and the vast sky was their true route.
Therefore, he asked Gauss and Faraday to guarantee and obtained an investment of 50,000 pounds from Trinity College.
One is the first person in mathematics today, and the other is the first person in physics today. It is really easy to complete this task.
This is equivalent to one day in later generations, Qiu Chengtong and Mr. Yang jointly found a school and said that if you give me 50 million in funding, I will try to find the ninth planet. It may not necessarily succeed but it may not necessarily fail. Do you want to defeat it?
joke.
Not to mention the Qingbei restoration or 985211, even Wanzhou Grilled Fish College can come up with this money in minutes.
His eyes returned to reality.
Looking at Babbage who looked a little sad.
Xu Yun smiled slightly, pulled out another document from his body like Doraemon, and handed it to Babbage:
"Mr. Babbage, please take a look at this first."
Babbage took the document with a puzzled look on his face, glanced at it subconsciously, and couldn't keep his eyes off it:
"This is"
Ada on the side saw this and quickly came over. Within a few seconds, she fell into the same state as Babbage.
Earl Lovelace sat quietly aside, smiling as he watched his wife and Babbage study with blushing faces.
Xu Yun didn't bother them, and just waited at his position.
In later generations, Xu Yun was a pure computer novice and did not have much knowledge about computers.
I barely know that the bigger the graphics card is, the better. The 3060 is most likely a mining card.
As for computer technology
I know how to use F12 to change the review element, I know how to use Ctrl+C to copy text, and nothing else.
Oh right.
I also know that if the computer screen is black, the memory module may be loose. Well, then it is gone.
But when it comes to the Analytical Engine, he still knows something about it.
Because this thing is very famous in the DIY circle.
In principle, it initially considers squares of integers.
For example, list a line of numbers first:
1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64 and so on.
Even an elementary school student can see that their pattern is one to eight squared.
Then by subtracting the immediately preceding number from the following number, a new difference series can be obtained, called the first difference series.
It consists of the numbers 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, etc.
Do the above operation again to get the second difference series.
They are both constants, both equal to 2.
That is to say.
If we want to transition from the number 5 to the following number 7, we must add the constant difference 2 in front.
Likewise, if you go from the square number 9 to the square number 16, you must add the difference 7 to the former.
That is, the previous difference of 5 is added to the constant difference of 2.
This law is summarized in the device, which is the prototype of the analytical engine or difference engine.
Suppose the machine has three turntables, named A, B, and C. Each turntable has a scale.
For example, there are a thousand scales. There is a pointer that can pass between these scales.
C and B should also have a positioning hammer with the same number of hits as the scale indicated by the pointer.
Every time the positioning hammer of turntable C is struck once, the pointer of turntable B will advance one space;
same.
The pointer of turntable A will advance one space with each strike of the positioning hammer of turntable B.
Assume that pointer C is placed on scale 2, pointer B is placed on scale 5, and pointer A is placed on scale 9.
Then let the positioning hammer of turntable C strike.
If it strikes twice, pointer B will cross two scales - at this time the latter will indicate the number 7.
If the positioning hammer of turntable B is allowed to continue to strike, it will strike seven times.
During this period.
Pointer A will advance seven spaces.
Since pointer A is initially positioned at 9, we will get the number 16, which is the square number after 9.
And by repeating these operations infinitely, the sequence of square numbers can be reproduced continuously in a very simple way.
That is, as soon as something thin and pointed moves, the positioning hammer will make a snapping sound, and then output something.
The plan given by Xu Yun included many optimizations in this regard by later generations.
For example, the formula T=x^2+x+41 is summarized.
Another example is changing the turntable into a variable column to reduce the process difficulty.
Another example is the idea of introducing machines and so on.
The Analytical Engine has always been a popular DIY project in later generations, and the DIY circle sometimes has strange thinking.
Like in later generations, you can easily buy high-precision gears on a certain website, but DIY enthusiasts of analytical machines like to buy equipment with lower precision and achieve the effect by modifying the pathways - euphemistically called retro.
The closer the craftsmanship is to the 19th century, the better you are.
At the same time, compared to foreign DIY circles, the domestic situation is a little more difficult.
Because power control in China is very strict these days.
For example, a certain kind of leaf or mining machine uses a lot of electricity, so once there is an abnormal power consumption in the community, someone will basically come to the community to provide warmth soon.
Therefore, while pursuing retro style, domestic analytical machine enthusiasts also pursue high efficiency and energy saving
As a senior enthusiast in the DIY circle, Xu Yun has these optimized solutions at his fingertips.
He didn't even use the reward of briefly returning to reality, so he wrote a bunch of optimized content himself.
This part can be called an entry-level optimization solution, but it is undoubtedly a treasure for Babbage and Ada.
"Write the coefficients m, n, d, m', n', d' on 8 bars, so that n and n' are repeated twice"
"m enters mn' and md', n' enters mn' and n', these coefficients will be assigned to the V0 and V4 columns."
More than ten minutes passed.
Babbage suddenly raised his head and looked at Xu Yun with bloodshot eyes:
"Mr. Luo Feng, where do you get these ideas? They are really wonderful!"
Xu Yunjian said that he was certain in his heart. He raised his eyelids and glanced at him, explaining:
"It's just some thoughts left by the ancestor of Fat Fish. He has a friend named Qiu Sheng who has always been single, so the ancestor of Fat Fish wants to find him a two-dimensional wife. Let's forget about it."
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"Mr. Charles, are these things helpful to you?"
Babbage nodded heavily, without any trace of the previous dejection, and said quickly:
"It's so helpful, Mr. Luo Feng. With these things, it may be possible to achieve the previous standards!"
Xu Yun smiled slightly and understood what he meant:
"So Mr. Babbage, you have decided to accept this investment?"
Babbage turned to look at Ada and the little transparent Earl Lovelace, took a deep breath, and said:
"Classmate Luo Feng, I, Charles Babbage, swear on the name of the Babbage family that I will do my best to complete the research and development of the Analytical Engine!"
Half an hour later.
Looking at Babbage's name on the investment contract, Xu Yun felt relieved.
Both parties agreed in the contract.
Babbage and Ada will move to the small town of Cambridge within a week. At that time, the University of Cambridge will pay the initial construction fee of 10,000 pounds, and medical personnel will be arranged to conduct physical examinations on them.
After all, it follows the historical trajectory.
In two years, Ada will die due to physical deterioration, at the age of only 36.
Although Ada doesn't know whether she has cervical cancer now, it's always right to get a checkup and treatment.
The fatal cause of Ada's death was excessive blood loss caused by the treatment of the disease. In theory, there is still hope of rescue.
In addition, the delivery date signed by Babbage and Xu Yun is November next year, which is 11 months later, one month earlier than the time agreed with Gauss.
all in all.
At present, all preparations have been completed, and all that is left is to see the results.
After leaving the office.
Xu Yun glanced at the sky and sighed:
"Do your best and know your destiny." (End of Chapter)