>>> Hehe yes, I'd never have thought you could make a spectrum analyser 
>>> mechanically!
>>
>> IIRC there is prior art in this direction - I saw a machine in the 
>> London Science Museum that does this. Victorian, I think. I forget 
>> exactly how it works; suffice it to say it seems "obvious" after 
>> you've been told. ;-)
> 
> You mean Charles Babagge's Analytical Machine?

Actually no - this device was hard-wired for the Fourier transform.

> I'm sure you know the importance of Babagge's work that led to today's 
> computers.  And Ada Lovelace...

Well, yeah, even a moron like me knows of Babagge's work...

The computer, more than any other invention in history, appears to be a 
device that no single person can really be said to have "invented". It 
really was the result of many, many great minds.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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