The economic use of digital computers

The paper considers the factors which determine the economic use of an automatic digital computer for scientific and engineering problems. The two types of problem (a) involving a small amount of repetition work, (b) involving an indefinite amount of repetition work, are dealt with, and the necessity for treating the problem by the correct technique is stressed. The author advocates the greater use of automatic computers as an economic method of solving many scientific and engineering problems rather than limiting their use to the solution of problems which would not have been solved by any other means. Recommendations are made for the use of standard programmes which are adaptable to a variety of problems, and the necessity of avoiding the human computer is stressed.