Martin Davis: Leibniz's machine could only do ordinary arithmetic, but he grasped the broader significance of mechanizing claculation. In 1674 he describ

Martin Davis: Leibniz's machine could only do ordinary arithmetic, but he grasped the broader significance of mechanizing claculation. In 1674 he described a machine which could solve algebraic equations. A year later, he wrote comparing logical reasoning to a mechanism, thus pointing to the goal of reducting reasoning to a kind of calculation and of ultimately building a machine capable of carrying out such calculations.