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 todays kids and calculator. Its Garbage In Garbage Out. It must be right thats 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. Todays 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 Im 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 wasnt 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.
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-33 last
To: quietolong
trip down memory lane
if I could find one of my old sticks, I would (sad to say) have to work a while to remember how to use it ...
52 posted on
07/13/2003 1:17:30 AM PDT by
fnord
( Hyprocisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue)
To: quietolong
You're not a slide"rules" aficionado unless you can do polar-rectangular conversion (while minimizing slide movement).
To: quietolong
I have a Pickett, U.S.Air Force Aeril Photo Slide Rule Type A-2. I have a
Frederick Post Co No.1447 Sun,Japan,FL(?) oth only 40 yrs old. Does this sound like e-bay?
To: quietolong
Growing up, my father worked at the airport and got to know a lot of pilots. During one of my visits there, one of his friends gave me a "pilot's slide rule" similar to the one above. I had fun with that for hours.
For me, calculators took most of the fun out of math. I used to like to figure things out for myself.
63 posted on
07/13/2003 5:02:24 AM PDT by
SamAdams76
(Back in boot camp! 249 (-51))
To: quietolong
Maybe you were a whiz in math, but your english is another story.
It's 'crapped', not 'craped'.
In home economics, we made 'crapes'. ;)
66 posted on
07/13/2003 5:41:42 AM PDT by
ovrtaxt
To: 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.I feel the one of the reasons for the increase in sentence fragments. Is the lack of education in the English language.
74 posted on
07/13/2003 11:11:42 AM PDT by
Lazamataz
(First)
To: quietolong
Interesting!
Never did learn how to use one.
I remember having a circular one in an old leather case.
To: quietolong
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. I was tutoring these two kids who would just not learn math. Then I showed them a slide rule I picked up from a thrift store. Math teachers are missing a terrific prop!
120 posted on
07/13/2003 3:35:43 PM PDT by
JoeSchem
(Okay, now it works: Knight's Quest, at http://www.geocities.com/engineerzero)
To: quietolong
I can't get over the image of a hippy couple wearing suspenders sitting down to dinner with a number of freeloading coyotes and a family of rehabilitated owls -- all I see are feathers, legs and snapping galluses.
To: quietolong
You had to keep track of your numbers. And if you came out with an answer that seemed In part because you had to place the decimal point.
142 posted on
07/14/2003 6:20:32 PM PDT by
js1138
To: quietolong
If you actually want to get one (or more), try
Slide Rule Universe.Disclaimer: No endorsement intended or implied. But their website has pretty pictures.
143 posted on
07/14/2003 6:22:19 PM PDT by
pttttt
To: quietolong
I won't dismiss your comments but I will say that the calculator made my day!
The problem is not with the tool but with the teaching.
160 posted on
07/14/2003 8:28:31 PM PDT by
cinFLA
To: quietolong
We have one of those precision rules here, superb workmanship, a simple looking but quite complex fine piece of instrumentation. You are right, kids today have no concept of the rule let alone its uses in high technology. Sigh, if only it would help get my MS Win2K loaded PC to operate properly! Fat chance of that! I would have better luck building my own starship with my trusty old slide rule! I wonder if future ventures beyond the stars will carry a good old slide rule next to the captains chair as a 'backup' to the drive computer?
168 posted on
07/15/2003 12:10:29 AM PDT by
joanil
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-33 last
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson