The fact that electronic computers are now used for data processing has led the general public to believe that it is a mysterious, complicated science and that the computers are giant brains. Both
of these ideas are false. A computer is basically just a high-speed adding machine that performs
the functions it is told to. If the input data are varied even a little, the computer is unable to operate
until it is programmed to accept the variations. The business operations it performs are impressive
only because of the extremely high speed of manipulation, but most of these operations have been
used for decades. Unlike man, the computer performs repetitive calculations without getting tired
or bored.