Charles Babbage is referring to two separate occasions upon which he was asked if his "analytical engine" (what some might consider the first computer) would st

Charles Babbage is referring to two separate occasions upon which he was asked if his "analytical engine" (what some might consider the first computer) would still produce the right answer to a problem even if the wrong input was supplied. The answer is so painfully obvious -- of course it won't! -- that Babbage remarks that he can't even understand how confused the person must be in order to ask such a question.