Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Science: Let NORC Do It
International Business Machines Corp. claimed last week that its newest electronic computer is the smartest built so far. Named NORC (Naval Ordnance Research Calculator) and soon to be delivered to the Navy, it takes only thirty-one millionths of a second to multiply two 13-digit numbers:
It cannot print, however, as fast as it can figure. Slow-writing NORC takes nearly one tenth of a second to put the answer on paper.
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