u/iamaquantumcomputerin r/compsci • Recommends
Using logic gates to build a 4 bit adder... entirely out of dominoes!
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#dominocomputer#logicgates#adder
The 10,000 Domino Computer
Stand-up Maths
1.3M subscribers • 12 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 1 person: 1 in engineering communities.
- Presented by Matt Parker, mathematician and science communicator
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
1.3M views12 years ago1 recommendation
HardwareComputer scienceCPUs and computer architectureMath for programmers
Matt Parker and his team build a 4-bit binary adder entirely out of 10,000 dominoes to demonstrate logic gates.
Matt Parker and a team of Domino Computer Builders balanced over 10,000 dominoes in a carefully designed circuit. The result was a Domino Computer capable of automatically adding numbers. It can take any two four-digit binary numbers and return the five-digit binary sum. It's a computer, made of dominoes. Watch the Numberphile where Matt explains more of the maths: youtu.be/lNuPy-r1GuQ As well as the secret Numberphile bonus interview: youtu.be/rEw2hE8ZRlY There are free worksheets and teaching resources about binary numbers and logic gates here: think-maths.co.uk/downloads/domino-computer-worksheets Computer design: Matt Parker, Katie Steckles, Paul Taylor, Andrew Taylor, Siân Fryer Builders: Ben Curtis, Becky Smedley, Mike Bell, Blair Lavelle, Andrew Pontzen, Jonathan Sanderson, Elin Roberts, Chris Roberts, Ben Ashforth, Gillian Kiernan, David Julyan Thanks to Marieke Navin, Natalie Ireland, Nicola Frost and everyone at the Museum of Science and Industry who made this possible. mosi.org.uk/ Huge thanks to Jonathan Sanderson at StoryCog for making the video. storycog.com/Why it's here
1 person recommends thisWhat people say. Recommended as an entertaining and physical demonstration of logic gates and binary addition.
u/nakattackin r/compsci • Mentions
On “OR, AND, XOR gates using dominoes”
Ask and you shall receive.
u/iamaquantumcomputerin r/compsci • Mentions
On “Pulley Logic Gates”
These guys built a 4-bit adder using 10,000 dominoes to make logic gates
link to this video
u/AndroidUser8358in r/compsci • Mentions
On “PowerPoint is Turing Complete!”
Or a bunch of dominos:
link to this video
u/moschlesin r/compsci • Mentions
On “How large is the zoo of Turing-complete models of computation?”
…0ComputationTheory/Introduction%20to%20the%20theory%20of%20computation_third%20edition%20-%20Michael%20Sipser.pdf
Op pretended to be asking about some set of mathematical models being "uncountable" but clearly he wants to talk about the space of physical models of computers, like in say https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconventional_computing
or
link to this video…
u/theinternetftwin r/compsci • Mentions
On “Social scientist grad tries to understand CPUs, epic fail ensues, plz set me straight”
One more answer:
Agency.
The agency is you pressing the power button.
Chains of transistors are like dominoes. You provide electricity, and a cascade of consequences happen.
Here's a portion of a computer made out of dominoes.
Now the problem with dominoes is that when you knock them over, they stay that way.
The magic thing about transistors is that if you "hit them" the right way, they stand back up.
So imagine having millions of dominoes arranged like the above video. You knock over one, and they start falling down in a great cycle, and also standing themselves back up to get themselves ready to do it again with the results of whatever work they did when they fell over the firs…
u/AraneusAdoroin r/compsci • Mentions
On “I have created a working domino AND gate. You can interact with it here!”
You might enjoy this.
u/WhackAMoleEin r/compsci • Mentions
On “How useful is minecraft for learning the ins and outs of computer hardware?”
Some guy built a computer out of dominos.
link to this video
u/djimbobin r/compsci • Mentions
On “Programming language for quantum computers?”
Quantum computing is in its very early stages of infancy, where they can only build the most very basic quantum computers in the lab by hardware quantum gates that manipulate states. Think of this as the analog of building classical computer out of dominos or a mechanical calculator that are designed once and can't be reprogrammed without physically re-assembling it. (Again, once quantum computing advances, there's no reason you can't have programmable quantum computers; its just we aren't there yet as getting dozens of qubits to stay coherent for real calculations is difficult to construct in the lab without having to do it in some compiled way.)
Granted, how you would initially set u…
u/WhackAMoleEin r/compsci • Mentions
On “What is binary code made of? Is "digital" information made up of atoms? Is "digital" actually "physical"?”
Bits could be made of dominoes.
link to this video
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_computer
u/wischichrin r/compsci • Mentions
On “What is binary code made of? Is "digital" information made up of atoms? Is "digital" actually "physical"?”
…pts to build non binary computers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ternary_computer)
As others already pointed out most classical computers use voltage to work with binary numbers (cpu, ram, bus systems) but also other techniques to store them / transmit them (hard drives, floppy, wireless lan)
In fact there are even computers made out of dominos: link to this video
TL;DR: binary is made of nothing, but you can use different two state mechanisms to represent binary digits (for example coins)…
u/HimDaemonin r/compsci • Mentions
On “Are venus fly traps turing complete?”
It seems you have described a domino computer.
link to this video
u/Scum42in r/compsci • Mentions
On “Logic gates using liquids”
I once saw a video about a computer made with dominoes. Now, more than anything, I want to build a hydraulic full-adder. What an amazing piece of home decor that would be.