[quietolong]

I feel the one of the reasons for the decline in math. Is the ending of teaching and use of slide rules in our schools.

The use of a slide rule give a “ feel “ of the numbers. You had to keep track of your numbers. And if you came out with an answer that seemed way out of the ball park. You went back and checked your work. With today’s kids and calculator. It’s Garbage In Garbage Out. “ It must be right that’s what the display says.” Who cares if 2+2= -32.49834098493

One other skill the use of a slide rule teaches is Interpolate. Estimating the value between the marks. A skill that comes in handy in a number of different areas.

I still like to use a slide rule for doing some problems. It gives you a range of answers at a time. And is faster and easier than pushing buttons. And as a pilot the old circular in still better and faster to use.

Back in the old days slide rules put a man on the moon, landed on Mars. Today’s wizz kids with supercomputers, laptops and calculators. Missed Mars.

Kids today when I show them what a slide rule is. Are just amazed that by sliding a bar. I can come up with the answers.

Now before you think I’m just old fashion. Back in 73 I was one of the first kids in school with a handheld calculator. A TI model. But still took the old slip stick to class ( never on a belt I wasn’t that nerdey) And I would race the other kids with calculators. And I would beat them every time ( you can slide the slide faster that you can push buttons ) And one more thing My first Slide Rule which was handed down to me by my dad. Still works. And I have handed it down to my kids. My first calculator craped out years ago.

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[John Beresford Tipton]

Ah, my old Keuffel and Esser Log-Log Duplex Deci-trig

[Fiddlstix]

Ahhh... The good 'ol "slipstick"
My first one was made by the old Post slide rule co. If memory serves, it was made of bamboo
(I don't recall what I paid for it, but it wasn't too much)

[wideminded]

I also used a slide rule at the beginning of high school and then complemented that with a calculator as they began to come in. Today my son laughs at the notion that anyone ever used something so simple and antiquated as some sliding sticks to do calculations.

[edger]

My old K&E Log Log Duplex Decitrig hung on my belt all through college. I still have it. I also have an assortment of circular sliderules. And an abacus or two. And my first several calculators crapped out long ago.

With the sliderule, answers were always approximate--always. The calculator or computer answer to six decimal places gives the illusion of accuracy that is nonexistent.

With the sliderule, you had to keep track of the decimal place--it was the operators responsibility--and it was good practice. While using the abacus, I found myself doing more and more work in my head.

A good time long gone.

[RLK]

Brings back memories. I have an old bamboo K&E. I had a three foot long slip stick. I had a nine inch diameter circular with a spiral scale ten feet long. For proportions a slide rule is unbeatable.

Today I use TI solar calculators exclusively.

[longtermmemmory]

Do the even make calculators with reverse polish notation anymore?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Ping-a-ling-a-ding-dong.

[TheOtherOne]

Legend has it that Soviet artillery gunners could put rounds down range into targets the size of 55-gallon drums. Their secret may have been these '60s-vintage, enameled wooden slide rules. Loaded with artillery coordinate formulas, in Russian. Complete with original vinyl case. An exceedingly rare find. 11"x1½". 

[this_ol_patriot]

Calculator freaks, have fun below.

The Museum of HP Calculators

[Othniel]

I remember seeing this bit on some news show years ago about a math competition in Japan. There were hundreds of high schoolers, and when the starting bell rang, they all started moving their fingers like they were using an abacus. Their fingers would fly, they'd write down an answer, then go on to the next problem. Amazing.

[Cacique]

Wow, somewhere in a carton box in my house are two slide rules I haven't seen in eons. I have a mind to go looking for them. Heck, the batteries never ran out.

[jnarcus]

I still ave my auntie's 20 inch slide rule issued as part of her NACA work kit....they were given a 20 inch and a 12 inch. She got her's in 1948 when she was working with Doris and Bob Jones...think elliptical wing theory and the swept wing...I love it and used it when I was in school up until the profs started writing the exams for quackulators...ANyway great post thanks for sharing the memories

[Servant of the Nine]

The use of a slide rule give a “ feel “ of the numbers. You had to keep track of your numbers. And if you came out with an answer that seemed way out of the ball park. You went back and checked your work. With today’s kids and calculator. It’s Garbage In Garbage Out. “ It must be right that’s what the display says.” Who cares if 2+2= -32.49834098493

Exactly right. People who have never had to keep a running aproximation in their heads can be off by 3 or 4 orders of magnitude, and be flabergasted when you can just look at the problem and tell them the answer has to be wrong.

So9

[Myrddin]

I was still using a slide rule at UCSD in the 1974 to 1876 time frame. The kids with serious money had an HP-35 or HP-45. Others had a TI-30. My lot in life was a 4 function calculator from Radio Shack and my slide rule. In late 1975, I managed to cobble up enough money from a Commodore Scientific calculator. What a relief to be able to calculate a very accurate square root with having to do successive approximations on the 4 banger after taking a first cut from the slipstick. My graduation present was an HP-25A. Finally, I could do a factorial probability calculation without having lightning fast fingers. That wretched, granular table of crossover probabilies in the Schaum's Genetics book was replaced with a short program keyed into the HP-25A.

The turning point that pried the money from my hands for the Commodore Scientific calculator occurred when my chemistry professor stepped in from the of the classroom. He held up a slide rule and asked how many people in the room have a slide rule. Quite a few hands went up. Next, he held up a calculator and asks for a similar show of hands. About half the class raised hands. At that point he informed us that those who do not possess a calculator would not be able to complete any of the exams in the allotted time and with the required degree of accuracy. Slipstick retired.

[pt17]

Wow, what memories. My dad gave me a Pickett log log duplex as a birthday present when I entered HS. It was a big, yellow aluminum job in a leather case. I always preferred to use a (much) cheaper K&E bamboo stick, though. Thanks for the post.

[nightdriver]

"Back in the old days slide rules put a man on the moon, landed on Mars. Today’s wizz kids with supercomputers, laptops and calculators. Missed Mars."

How about that? LOL

I got through engineering school with the biggest log-log slide rule that Lafayette Radio sold. The best one, though, to me, was the Post Versalog.

[SpaceBar]

The article attributes quite a bit to this nifty little device, but you have to be realistic, you can make the same claims for paper and pencil (a table of logs can be calculated as a series expansion to any desired accuracy). It's just a convenient graphical method to perform multiplication and division of numerical values accurately over orders of magnitude by adding and subtracting logarithms without having to laboriously consult log tables. It is encumbant on the user however to be familiar with the algebra of logarithms, significant figures, error propagation, and rounding to effectively use one as a replacement for an HP calculator or the above mentioned paper and pencil. Again the gigo principle. They excel at removing the tedium of repetative calculations that are naturally logarithmic in nature like pH or atomic yield calculations, hence the "special purpose models" mentioned in the article.

[Aracelis]

I have a couple of these little beauties stashed away...

[El Sordo]

Cool.