JohnH Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Good article. How many on this forum are skilled with a slide rule? (I have one in my desk, although I don't stay in practice.) https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/logarithms-celebrate-their-400th-birthday I credit the slide rule with having enabled me to form a mental picture of how log tables actually work. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 Good article. When I got ready to leave for college, in 1961, my father gave me a beautiful slide rule as my special gift. The leather case had a belt-loop so I could keep it at my side all the time. and I loved it. I could do simple calculations faster than an electronic calculator or today's calculator apps. And, of course, those did not exist then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 I still have the little plastic slide rule I bought in junior high school (now known as "middle school") for fifty cents. It lives in my car, and I use it to calculate my mileage when I feel like being more exact than I can be, quickly, in my head just using percentages. My husband has a nice collection of wooden ones, including a *circular* slide rule. We all know how to use them - although I think both girls are pretty rusty at this point. Most of their peers don't even know what one is, though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted July 27, 2014 Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 You could tell the engineering majors with their six-inch slide rules from the science majors with their 12-inch slide rules. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 You could tell the engineering majors with their six-inch slide rules from the science majors with their 12-inch slide rules.So, even back then, size mattered? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jklcpa Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 Good one, Jack! lol I still have my slide rule too, and an abacus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion EA Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I have my slide rules and my CRC book of tables. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAMalody Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 I have both a 12 inch and 6 inch, inherited from my Dad who was a chem major in college. About the only thing I can remember to do is to multiply and divide. May have to brush up to stay up, it looks like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILLMAS Posted July 28, 2014 Report Share Posted July 28, 2014 https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6866390272/h043ADC0F/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don in Upstate NY Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 I sold my slide rules on e-bay, and also my supply of Smith-chart graph paper. Don EA, BSEE, MSEE, MBA, NCI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catherine Posted July 29, 2014 Report Share Posted July 29, 2014 I sold my slide rules on e-bay, and also my supply of Smith-chart graph paper. Don EA, BSEE, MSEE, MBA, NCI Ooohh! Smith charts -- my husband wants a bolo tie clip done as a Smith chart. Being a NM native, he figures he rates being able to wear a bolo even here in the east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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