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user2554
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Did Leibniz design a machine capable of solving algebraic equations?

My question is based on the information on pages 108-109 of the book The Tangled Origins of the Leibnizian Calculus. I know that Leibniz

  • invented the stepped drum and used it to build the stepped reckoner — the first mechanical calculator capable of doing all four arithmetical operations.

  • sketched a design for a different machine‚ the pinwheel calculator.

  • designed a cipher machine.

  • developed binary arithmetic (based on $0$ and $1$) and established its importance for computers, and even described in detail some of the fundamental principles of the modern computer (in his treatise De progressione Dyadica).

With such achievements in hand, it's not an exageration to believe the statement in this book.

Can someone give a reference for Leibniz's supposed machine? Can someone give a reference for a drawing of Leibniz machine (how does it look like?)?

user2554
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