Slide rules?

Xyzzy · 2011-01-19, 05:32

Does anyone here collect slide rules? Or maybe uses a slide rule just for the fun of it? Or has an interesting story about them?

A friend of ours showed us a pair of beautiful slide rules the other day so we now have the itch to try one out.

CRGreathouse · 2011-01-19, 05:56

When I was in high school (long after slide rules were in fashion) I brought one with me to a math competition, along with a calculator. Many of the moderators found an excuse to come by my area just to see if I was actually using it. (I was, though inexpertly -- I hadn't really used them before. I did well on the competition, though; I think first or second place in my region, so the slide rule didn't hurt me.)

Batalov · 2011-01-19, 06:10

Ask George and David... Déjà vu?

xilman · 2011-01-19, 07:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

Does anyone here collect slide rules? Or maybe uses a slide rule just for the fun of it? Or has an interesting story about them?

A friend of ours showed us a pair of beautiful slide rules the other day so we now have the itch to try one out.

I have a small collection of slide rules. I use one every now and again, just to convince myself that I still can.

In the UK at least, I am one of the youngest people to have been taught how to drive a guessing stick for real practical application. Pocket calculators were just coming available at a not too extortionate price when I was 16 or so.

A very nice feature of a slide rule is that, by and large, they tell you the digits but not the magnitude of the result. As a result, people familiar with the use of slide rules tend to be markedly better than average at estimating order of magnitudes of computed quantities than those not so trained.

Paul

cmd · 2011-01-19, 08:27

u rule one of us

control == royal == donate == gifts

from us to u

real philosophical rule

"If you can not convince them confuse them ..."

see

jasonp · 2011-01-20, 02:23

When my father arrived in New York City in the 1960s, one of the first things he did was go to a pawnshop and buy a good slide rule. He gave it to me probably 20 years ago and I still have it, but never got very far through the slide rule manual he also gave me.

davieddy · 2011-01-20, 07:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batalov

Ask George and David... Déjà vu?

Very alert of you to remember that thread, and particularly kind of you
to associate me with our esteemed founder of GIMPS.

Being 7 years older than both George and Paul, my personal
experience of methods of calculation/maths education
should be more antiquated than theirs. 15 years of schoolteaching
prior to various IT work gives me a good perspective on 50+ years
of evolution in the methods.

Does anyone else still live with a pocket calculator immediately
to hand, and invariably use it when a calculation is required?

Sexy Genarian

davieddy · 2011-01-20, 09:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

I have a small collection of slide rules. I use one every now and again, just to convince myself that I still can.

Paul

Mine is 6 inches, but I never use it as a rule.

David

davieddy · 2011-01-20, 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by davieddy

Mine is 6 inches, but I never use it as a rule.

David

Modesty almost forbds, but I think Bob might have bitten off
more than he can chew.

Errol Flynn.

Wacky · 2011-01-20, 13:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by davieddy

Mine is 6 inches …

David,

There are some topics that are not discussed in polite society.

The size of your tool is one of those topics.

davieddy · 2011-01-20, 14:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

Does anyone here collect slide rules? Or maybe uses a slide rule just for the fun of it? Or has an interesting story about them?

A friend of ours showed us a pair of beautiful slide rules the other day so we now have the itch to try one out.

Is this the soap box?
No it's Nobby's Hobbies..
Try next door.
Would you like 5 minutes or the full half hour?
General Paper in my Oxford entrance exam:
"Science is either physics or stamp collecting (Rutherford). Discuss."
I got my Scholarship.

David

PS My Dad attributed his Scholarship to a General Paper question:
"Discuss the merits (or otherwise) of Punch magazine".
(His father (a doctor) stashed his waiting room with read
copies of same).
Back in them days, we used to respeck our elders:)

2011-01-19, 05:32	#1
Xyzzy "Mike" Aug 2002 5·1,597 Posts	Slide rules? Does anyone here collect slide rules? Or maybe uses a slide rule just for the fun of it? Or has an interesting story about them? A friend of ours showed us a pair of beautiful slide rules the other day so we now have the itch to try one out.

2011-01-19, 08:27	#5
cmd "(^r'°:.:)^n;e'e" Nov 2008 ;t:.:;^ 3³×37 Posts	u rule one of us control == royal == donate == gifts from us to u real philosophical rule "If you can not convince them confuse them ..." see Last fiddled with by cmd on 2011-01-19 at 08:46 Reason: present

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2011-01-19, 05:56	#2
CRGreathouse Aug 2006 1756₁₆ Posts	When I was in high school (long after slide rules were in fashion) I brought one with me to a math competition, along with a calculator. Many of the moderators found an excuse to come by my area just to see if I was actually using it. (I was, though inexpertly -- I hadn't really used them before. I did well on the competition, though; I think first or second place in my region, so the slide rule didn't hurt me.)

2011-01-19, 06:10	#3
Batalov "Serge" Mar 2008 Phi(4,2^7658614+1)/2 2·13·359 Posts	Ask George and David... Déjà vu?

2011-01-20, 02:23	#6
jasonp Tribal Bullet Oct 2004 2×3×19×31 Posts	When my father arrived in New York City in the 1960s, one of the first things he did was go to a pawnshop and buy a good slide rule. He gave it to me probably 20 years ago and I still have it, but never got very far through the slide rule manual he also gave me.