Ada Lovelace was an early nineteenth century mathematician, often referred to as the first computer programmer. Sadly, the computer for which she wrote programs was never built and no machine of comparable power was developed until a hundred years after she died. Nevertheless, she understood more about the possibilities of computers than anyone else of her era, and in a lengthy academic paper she set out what is arguably the first computer program. Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated on the second Tuesday of October.
A quick search will tell you much more about Ada and her achievements in a tragically short life. Do read about her. You will easily be able to extract:
B = one of her tutors was the famous logician Augustus de M, count the letters in M
C = before she became a Countess she was known as Ada K, count the letters in K.
D = one of her tutors was the famous scientist Mary S, count the letters in S and subtract 1
E = her famous paper was an extension of work begun by Luigi M, count the letters in M
That’s B to E sorted, but what about A? Well I thought we should do some computing. It's not easy to get you to do actual programming, so instead you need to be the computer and execute the following very simple program. It is not written in any recognised computer language; those who can program will be able to translate it into one, but it is intended to be easily done with a pencil and paper. You might need a calculator. It is all whole numbers until the last step, when you should obtain a number of the form 12.345. (Don’t actually use 12.345, you will end up near Northampton, and we wouldn’t want that.)
Step 1 A starts with the value 2
Step 2 Multiply A by itself
Step 3 If A is less than 20 go back to step 2
Step 4 Subtract 63 from A
Step 5 Multiply A by itself
Step 6 Add 152 to A
Step 7 Divide A by 1000
The cache is at N52 A W001 0B.CDE
You can check your answer and get a hint to the hide at:
