Posted on 02/24/2024 6:28:03 PM PST by DoodleBob
That is a lie. I have three and I never heard of the guy.
I taught myself to learn to use a slide rule when I was 14. My father gave me a book about it.
We’ll still use slide rules when we have starships…
Spock had to go old school because the Romulans blew an EMP.
Don’t know much about algebra.
Don’t know what a slide rule is for.
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...
I have two P12Cs. Awesome calculator; I’ve used one my entire adult life. Never got the hang of slide rules.
My father had one but I never learned how to use it. I came of age just as the handheld calculator became available.
Still have the aluminum K&E I bought in high school (1960) with its’ leather scabbard. We nerds used to carry ‘em on our belts like gunfighters.
Along with my collection of mechanical watches, vernier calipers, and other such non-electronic nonsense.
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.
I still have my slide rule given to me when I was in junior high. I also have the nuclear effects slide rule.
I have the same one, circa 1988. I have only replaced the batteries twice. My only beef is that it doesn’t have trig functions.
Agree with you. I had to teach my granddaughter the times table....AND....how to WRITE her name. She still prints everything...except her name. She’s 30. I’m 80.
I bought a mint HP12C at a garage sale for $5, with pouch & manual and was actually working in mortgage finance when I did. I kind of wish I had the motivation and attention span to learn how to use it.
I have an 11C that I bough in 1985. Still works quite well.
e to the u du — e to the x, dx!
Cosine! Secant! Tangent! Sine!
3 point 1 4 1 5 9!
Integral! Radical! mu, dv
Slipstick! Slide rule! MIT!
— Traditional MIT cheer
I used a TI-59 with the printer in my business until I retired about 10 years ago. I still have a software TI-59 on my desktop computer and on my cell phone. Best calculator ever. I have a few slide rules, I loved them but the TI-59, boy that did some great work and they were programmable, you could store 1000 commands and store them on a magnetic strip so that you could run different programs for different calculations you were doing. It is true I could have done the same thing, even better in just about any programming language and there were some calculations I would program to do but for the most part every day calculations for heating a variety of materials in a particular amount of time, the old TI was fantastic.
Yes I still have a few slide rules but mostly they are gathering dust. Every once in a while when I bump into one I will do a few calculations and then put it back. They were great when that was all we had but now we have better.
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