In college, about 1985...our math professor made us use a slide rule...even though calculators were available. He wanted us to learn to approximate in our head...
When I was in 1st grade, my Dad has a big calculator on his desk…it did MDAS.
When nobody was looking, I’d turn it on and do my math homework.
I got caught, I think by my Mom, and I basically said “well if Dad can use it, why can’t I?”
I don’t remember her answer. Thankfully, Mom didn’t tell Dad but basically told me to never do it again.
Eventually I memorized my multiplication tables and learned how to do long division on paper. Indeed, doing things with pencil and paper is the BEST way to learn.
At my school, the A-stream math teacher had us do both slide rule tests, and calculator tests. (I graduated 1982).
I had to buy a slide rule around 1980 and they were already getting hard to find.
My dad (Physics professor) used to use a slide rule to calculate grades, because you could set it up to calculate 40 percent of the midterm mark, or whatever, and just read it off.
My math teacher, who introduced us to slide rules in the late ‘60s, had naked ladies printed on the underside of his necktie.
He liked flipping it up and showing it to us. Rather distracting...
Dad was a DOD engineer, he had a large collection of slide-rules and mechanical calculators. I remember he spent big bucks on an early T.I. hand held calculator just before he retired.
