Posts: 858
Threads: 80
Joined: Feb 2009
Eratosthenes is not new, EDSAC is quite old (first kind of RISC?) but for me it was new to _see_ how the Sieve of Eratosthenes works. And this experience was so "Whow!" I allowed me this OT append.
This sieve process is an excellent example to show the difference between calculate and compute: with very little effort you 'find' the next prime like picking ripe fruits from a tree. After the 2 you get the 3 as only integer between 2 and 4 = 2^2, with the 3 you know all primes between 3 and 3^2=9, with the 5 you know all primes up to 5^2=25 and so on. And this insight I _saw_ the first time with the Edsac simulator. :)
Ciao.....Mike