Number Crunching

[sagehen]

>It strikes me on reading this that there is a less-strained metaphor if
>"crunching numbers" and "number-crunching" refer originally to the
>mechanical calculators or "adding machines" that were once commonplace
>in business.
 >The noise of such devices can be quite, ah, crunchy.

 >Erik
 ~~~~~~~~~~~
Yup.  What you said.  I had a short-lived job processing statistics for a
fellow student back in the late 40s & the machine I used was decidedly
noisy and the expression "number crunching" frequently brings the image of
that monster to mind.
A. Murie

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