What did it do for accountants and engineers and why didn't it print. ( How does it work and what does it do?) So here is my answer after some research.
The Difference Engine did not print anything because like our modern microcomputers it needed a printer. The printer was to be part of another redesign. His designs for the Anaylitical Engine opened up more possibilities for engineers and statisticians.
"This is interesting, but even more interesting is the fact that if you form a polynomial that approximates (or interpolates) a function (say the sine function), the Difference Engine will evaluate the (sine) function to arbitrary accuracy (such as 15 digits). This is useful in making those boring trig tables so necessary before hand held calculators. The British needed accurate trig and other tables for navigation of their sea going merchant and naval vessels. They were very interested in such developments and machines in the 1600s through the 1800s.
Babbage had investigated errors in navigational and astronomical tables, and realized that both correct computation and printing were needed. So the second part of his Difference Engine was a type-setting machine, which reduced the probability of human error to a minimum."
http://www.sff.net/people/gunn/dd/index.htp
http://www.ftldesign.com/Babbage/index.htm
http://ed-thelen.org/bab/bab-intro.html
Please let me know if you have any other info.
Pierre
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