Why was the type of calculating machine developed by Babbage in the mid-nineteenth century no longer appropriate by the end of that century?
Babbage’s calculating device was no longer appropriate for the 19th century. Demand was now required for a more advanced calculating device. The United States census required the use of an advanced calculating device.
It had taken full seven years from the census to complete. The manual power of human was put to use. They tallied very single data. The religion, gender, ethnicity was also characterized by human manpower only.
The report made was about 21,000 pages. The population was growing so rapidly that manually another census could not be done. The data was so much to assemble that the 1890 census, could not be done before the beginning of 1900.
This required a new processing machine, which could process this immense amount of data. The collection of data also required the use of machines. The manual method had major loopholes, as people could not differentiate between American citizens, and the census was taken of the foreign people as well.