AN English home in 1833, where a lot of women have gathered: "Women don't have any right in this country. Men desire us, but they don't desire us to excel because they say that our minds are not analytical. Men are such heartless machines; what says you dear Ada?" says Lady Brackenstall, the voice of dissent. Ada is quiet in response as usual, but in the privacy of her mind, she is thinking: "The only man I have known closely is my father and he was not heartless. He always respected women and their desire to have equal rights as men." Her thoughts, she dare not utter, because her Aunt, Lady Brackenstall, she dare not offend, but the room judges her silence harshly. "My dear, what a dumb girl! She makes us believe in what men say about our gender," she hears them say and makes a wise exit.

In a bar full of men, near the house: "When will England be ruled by a King again. Have we no men in England who can tell the second gender who is the King here? Women, as a rule, should be forbidden to rule; they are such brainless machines. What says you Charles?" says Sir Hogwash, who has never won a battle of wits against a woman. "The only men of courage in England, Sir Hog, are those who shall oppose your views," says Dr Charles Babbage and exits the bar, leaving the dumb Hog more confused than ever.

In the street: "I am so sorry lady, I bumped into you, I am so clumsy. I was thinking about my machine." "Then, you are what Aunt Becky says: A heartless machine." "Then, you should be one what Sir Hog says: Brainless machine." "I am a poet's daughter." "Then, write sonnets." "I write codes for machines." "You write what?"

In Dr Babbage's laboratory, the next day: "Augusta Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace, the machine that you see is a steam-powered analytical engine that contains many operating principles like data storage, printouts and decision-making functions (much like today's computers) and accepts the information in binary code only. Can you, a poet's daughter, write a code for this machine for solving the problem of a Chinese game called Nim where two players each take turns taking any number of sticks from any one of three piles. The winner is the player who takes the last stick. If the three piles hold 3, 5, and 7 sticks, and it's your turn to play, what is your best move? What strategy should be followed if the number of sticks increased to 103, 105, and 107?

"Express the number of items in each pile in binary notation (For 3, 5, 7, this is 011, 101, 111). For each place, count the number of 1's in that position (For 3, 5, 7, this is 223). If the number of 1's in each column is even, then person about to move will lose; otherwise, he or she can win by making a move that will make all the values even. For the 103, 105, 107 case, the answer is:

103 = 1100111

105 = 1101001

107 = 1101011

Number in each column: 3302123; we need to remove 1100101 to make all digits even, so, we remove 101 sticks from the first pile." "This makes you the first computer programmer of the world… so, what was your father called?" "Lord Byron, romantic poet and mathematician." "I apologise; you have a brain." "I apologise; you have a heart."