How is ENIAC used to calculate artillery firing tables?

What a great military history AND technology history question. The actual events surrounding the use of the ENIAC are a little misleading since the ENIAC itself was not officially dedicated until after WWII was in fact over, in February 1946. read more

Although ENIAC was designed and primarily used to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory, its first programs included a study of the feasibility of the thermonuclear weapon. read more

To know the correct angle in the specific situation, the artillery men used so-called firing tables. But those firing tables had to be computed first. Those ballistic computations were done at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, part of the University of Pennsylvania, too. Calculating a trajectory could take up to 40 hours using a desk-top calculator. read more