(For proponents of Mauchly's claims to have been influenced not by the ABC but by scaling circuits used to count cosmic rays at Swarthmore College, this is a significant distinction: if Mauchly derived any work from Atanasoff, why did he not appropriate for the ENIAC Atanasoff's add-subtract mechanism, in principle the most novel and enduring aspect of the ABC?)
The passage highlights a potential discrepancy between John Mauchly's claims of inspiration from Atanasoff and the actual implementation of his contributions to the ENIAC project. It suggests that if Mauchly was indeed influenced by Atanasoff, he should have incorporated his innovative "add-subtract" mechanism into the ENIAC design.