<P> This is a list of examples of early computation devices which are considered to be precursors of the modern computers . Some of them may even have been dubbed as' computers' by the press, although they may fail to fit the modern definitions . </P> <P> The south - pointing chariot, invented in ancient China during the first millennium BC, can be considered the earliest analog computer . It was a mechanical - geared wheeled vehicle used to discern the southern cardinal direction . </P> <P> The Antikythera mechanism was an orrery and is claimed to be an early mechanical analog computer, according to Derek J. de Solla Price . It was designed to calculate astronomical positions . It was discovered in 1901 in the Antikythera wreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete, and has been dated to circa 100 BC . Devices of a level of complexity comparable to that of the Antikythera mechanism would not reappear until a thousand years later . </P> <P> Many mechanical aids to calculation and measurement were constructed for astronomical and navigation use . The planisphere was a star chart invented by Abū Rayḥān al - Bīrūnī in the early 11th century . The astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world in either the 1st or 2nd centuries BC and is often attributed to Hipparchus . A combination of the planisphere and dioptra, the astrolabe was effectively an analog computer capable of working out several different kinds of problems in spherical astronomy . An astrolabe incorporating a mechanical calendar computer and gear - wheels was invented by Abi Bakr of Isfahan, Persia in 1235 . Abū Rayhān al - Bīrūnī invented the first mechanical geared lunisolar calendar astrolabe, an early fixed - wired knowledge processing machine with a gear train and gear - wheels, circa 1000 AD . The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical clock invented by Al - Jazari in 1206, was the first programmable analog computer . </P>

Where do you find analog computers in daily life