Do you know how to use a slide rule?

[Enginnneeer]

My grandfather, who graduated in 1936 from Michigan Tech with a mining eng degree, always tried to teach me how to use a slide rule when I was at Tech. In his opinion using a slide rule made you think about your calculations and therefore less likely to make stupid errors. He also said the best part was that it didn't run out of batteries in the middle of an exam. So until the day he died in 1989 he always used a slide rule and never owner a calculator.
Here is a link to some virtual slide rules if you a interestered.

http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/

Cool link. Thanks.

I surprised some 'older' engineers when in a meeting they brought up the slide rule subject and I knew what it was. My dad has one in his office at home and one day he let me see it and try to figure out how to work it.

 

[zeteckat101]

Cool link. Thanks. I surprised some 'older' engineers when in a meeting they brought up the slide rule subject and I knew what it was. My dad has one in his office at home and one day he let me see it and try to figure out how to work it.

The website with the sliderule is quite cool.

 

[benbo]

I am pretty old. I used a slide rule in high school physics. As a result of that I got really used to scientific notation and exponent operations, because the slide rule really is only effective for signifiant figure operations, IMO. As a result, I still do a lot of those manipulations in my head even when I use my calculator. THat way I can tell if my answer seems reasonable, or if I keyed in something wrong.

 

[mudpuppy]

My grandfather, who graduated in 1936 from Michigan Tech with a mining eng degree, always tried to teach me how to use a slide rule when I was at Tech. In his opinion using a slide rule made you think about your calculations and therefore less likely to make stupid errors. He also said the best part was that it didn't run out of batteries in the middle of an exam. So until the day he died in 1989 he always used a slide rule and never owner a calculator.

How ironic: A co-worker of mine, who also graduated from Michgan Tech (but about 40 years after your grandfather) likes to corner the new engineers in the office and tell the story about the time he was taking a final exam and his caluclator's batteries died and he had to pull out his trusty old slide rule and it saved the day. This is invariably followed by "I think I still have it around here somewhere," rooting around in his desk and then spending half an hour showing how to use it. I wouldn't mind learning how to use one; by the time I got to Tech in 1996 (and probably long before) sliderules were nowhere to be seen.

 

[MetroRAFB]

^^^^^Your co-worker would have been better served by having the foresight to carry a couple of extra batteries with him in lieu of the dinosaur slide rule in my opinion. Seeing this thread again makes me wonder..........In 40 years will there be threads on boards like these "Do you know how to use an HP48?" I'm sure in it's day it was the shit, but technology continues to advance and I wonder why we all say it would be cool to know how to use a slide rule. How come? Atari was fun back in the day but it would suck if you tried to play it nowadays. It's no doubt a piece of engineering history, but it's just that, history.

 

[mudpuppy]

^^^^^Your co-worker would have been better served by having the foresight to carry a couple of extra batteries with him in lieu of the dinosaur slide rule in my opinion. Seeing this thread again makes me wonder..........In 40 years will there be threads on boards like these "Do you know how to use an HP48?" I'm sure in it's day it was the shit, but technology continues to advance and I wonder why we all say it would be cool to know how to use a slide rule. How come? Atari was fun back in the day but it would suck if you tried to play it nowadays. It's no doubt a piece of engineering history, but it's just that, history.

This took place back in the late 70's so the slide rule wasn't quite the dinosaur it is now, but you make a good point about the spare batteries.

Funny thing about the Atari--I bought one a few years back on Ebay thinking it would be great nostaligic fun, but the fun wore off after only a few days. It's just been gathering dust for several years now.

 

[benbo]

You do not need a slide rule to get the knowlege, but some knowlege about arithmetic beyond pumping numbers into a calculator is of value. I tutored the SAT for several years, and a lot of these kids couldn't even add without some machine. I've been at cash registers before where kids could not make change without the machine telling them what to do.

Compared to any $5 calculator, the slide rule is about as useful as an abacus. But I have seen experts on a abacus beat people on a calculator doing calculations.

 

[Guest]

^^^ You are absolutely right benbo. I was at a restaraunt a few weeks ago where my meal before taxes came out to just under $20. I watched the kid punch up the tax on a TI-83 and write the total ... $29.80. :blink:

It is very true that many of the kids now have absolutely NO IDEA to tell if a calculation is in the ball park so to speak. ldman:

JR

 

[mudpuppy]

^^^ You are absolutely right benbo. I was at a restaraunt a few weeks ago where my meal before taxes came out to just under $20. I watched the kid punch up the tax on a TI-83 and write the total ... $29.80. :blink:

Wow a 50% sales tax! That's even worse than Canada (14% over there in Ontario). I'm never visitng whereever it is you are!

 

[grover]

How ironic: A co-worker of mine, who also graduated from Michgan Tech (but about 40 years after your grandfather) likes to corner the new engineers in the office and tell the story about the time he was taking a final exam and his caluclator's batteries died and he had to pull out his trusty old slide rule and it saved the day. This is invariably followed by "I think I still have it around here somewhere," rooting around in his desk and then spending half an hour showing how to use it. I wouldn't mind learning how to use one; by the time I got to Tech in 1996 (and probably long before) sliderules were nowhere to be seen.

When feverishly running generator fuel-consumption/runtime calcs the other day during a storm, it dawned on me that my solar powered calculator doesn't work terribly well when the lights are out. Not that I couldn't do simple long division on a piece of paper, but somehow that didn't occur to me as I repositioned the flashlight to try to illuminate the solar cells and see the faint imprint of digits on the LCD.

 

[singlespeed]

It's no doubt a piece of engineering history, but it's just that, history.

Let me throw out another perspective - I know you're a gun fan - do you have any "older" pieces that you're especially fond of in your collection?

Slide rules are like that to us older folk. The simple elegance of the technology that comprises the slide rule is appealing to me. ld-025: