Charles Babbage — Questions and answers

Read the full story

What could Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine do that was so amazing?

Choices

  1. It could only count very quickly.
  2. It could sing songs and tell stories.
  3. It could do any math problem and even work with symbols. ✓
  4. It was a small, pocket-sized calculator.

Answer: It could do any math problem and even work with symbols.

From page 1

What did young Charles Babbage love to do that showed his curiosity?

Choices

  1. He loved to read adventure books.
  2. He enjoyed dismantling and reassembling toys. ✓
  3. He liked to play hide-and-seek with friends.
  4. He spent all his time drawing pictures.

Answer: He enjoyed dismantling and reassembling toys.

From page 2

What made Charles Babbage first think about creating a machine like the Difference Engine?

Choices

  1. He wanted to win a math competition.
  2. He was frustrated by all the mistakes in math tables made by people. ✓
  3. His teacher told him to build one for a project.
  4. He saw a dream about a giant calculator.

Answer: He was frustrated by all the mistakes in math tables made by people.

From page 3

Why did the British government agree to give Charles Babbage money for his Difference Engine?

Choices

  1. They thought it would make beautiful music.
  2. They believed it would help create accurate navigation tables for ships. ✓
  3. Babbage promised to build them a new palace.
  4. They wanted to use it to play games.

Answer: They believed it would help create accurate navigation tables for ships.

From page 4

Who was the skilled person who helped Charles Babbage turn his designs into real machine parts?

Choices

  1. Lord Byron.
  2. Joseph Clement. ✓
  3. Lord Wellington.
  4. Isaac Newton.

Answer: Joseph Clement.

From page 5

What made the Analytical Engine a much bigger idea than the Difference Engine?

Choices

  1. It was much smaller and quieter.
  2. It could only solve polynomial functions.
  3. It was designed to solve any mathematical problem, not just specific ones. ✓
  4. It was made of wood instead of metal.

Answer: It was designed to solve any mathematical problem, not just specific ones.

From page 6

What amazing thing did Ada Lovelace do for the Analytical Engine?

Choices

  1. She helped Babbage find new funding for it.
  2. She built some of its intricate parts herself.
  3. She wrote the world's first computer programs for it. ✓
  4. She drew all the initial designs for the machine.

Answer: She wrote the world's first computer programs for it.

From page 7

Why did the British government stop giving money to Charles Babbage for the Difference Engine?

Choices

  1. They ran out of battleships to build.
  2. Babbage decided he didn't want to build it anymore.
  3. The project was too expensive and complicated, and Babbage kept changing his focus. ✓
  4. The machine was finished and working perfectly.

Answer: The project was too expensive and complicated, and Babbage kept changing his focus.

From page 8

Did Charles Babbage get to see his Analytical Engine fully built during his lifetime?

Choices

  1. Yes, he saw many of them working perfectly.
  2. No, but his detailed plans helped people in the future. ✓
  3. Only a very small, toy version of it.
  4. He saw it built, but it didn't work very well.

Answer: No, but his detailed plans helped people in the future.

From page 9

What special title is Charles Babbage given today because of his ideas?

Choices

  1. The "Master Inventor."
  2. The "King of Numbers."
  3. The "Father of the Computer." ✓
  4. The "Greatest Engineer."

Answer: The "Father of the Computer."

From page 10