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Why did Blaise Pascal invent the Pascaline?
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Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal, oil painting by an anonymous artist, c. 1650; in the Musée Carnavalet–Histoire de Paris, Paris. Pascal laid the foundation for probability theory.
Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline between 1642 and 1644 to assist his father, Étienne Pascal, with his work as a tax collector. In 1639, Étienne had been appointed as an intendant (local administrator) in Rouen, and the device was designed to help him perform the complex and repetitive tax computations required by his position.123
Because it was created to facilitate these professional calculations, the Pascaline is recognized as the first business machine, as well as the first calculator to be produced in any significant quantity and actually put into use.13