Two smaller images depict quite different aspects of mathematics that had powerful utility and applications. This image depicts an Abacus, the ancient Eastern calculation device that implemented the rules of arithmetic, the summing and subtraction of individual numbers rather than continuous quantities of geometry. Just as this device had earlier swept through various societies and simplified laborious calculation, when the Academy dome was being designed quantification was invigorating the social sciences as well as the life sciences. Studies of populations became as important as studies of individuals. Electromechanical calculating machines, the forerunners of the digital computer, were making new studies feasible in physical, biological, and social sciences as well as in medicine.