Walter Shawlee, the Sovereign of Slide Rules, Is Dead at 73

DNYUZ ^ | February 8, 2024 | N/A

[Scrambler Bob]

So, why the two cursors?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

LOL...never saw a tie like that. When I was around 13, dad let me peek at his "stripper girl" pen. You tipped it up and some dark fluid ran out exposing the girl. It was quite risqué at the time!

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I still use my HP-15C from 1985 nearly every day. Once you go RPN you’ll never go back.

(Still have the old aluminum Pickett, too, just in case.)

[Myrddin]

I still have my Post slide rule. Purchased from Sears when I was a senior in high school. My slide rule and a 4 function calculator was what I had for my first 3 quarters at UCSD. I did get annoyed at having to do pencil/paper/4 function calculator drills for successive approximation of a square root. The cool kids had HP-35 and HP-45 calculators. I found an affordable Casio scientific calculator by my 4th quarter and made a huge difference. The slide rule could remain at home.

[Myrddin]

The HP16C was my "go to" while teaching an embedded systems class. The college provided 6800 and 8085 trainers. Writing code was done on graph paper with manually numbered memory addresses, op codes and calculated branches. The HP16C made branch calculations dirt simple. Likewise for evaluation of values between decimal/octal/hex/binary. I still have mine. I also have the HP-25 received as a graduation gift in June 1976. The first thing I did with my HP-25 was to program a replacement for a gene crossover frequency table. No interpolation necessary.

[Jamestown1630]

Pretty cool!

:-)

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I lusted after the HP-41CX but never did get one.

[DoodleBob]

That looks like The Technical Manual on Routine Active Maintenance from SpongeBob.

[DoodleBob]

Very cool.

I have to say…I saw your picture and looked at it upside-down to see if you tried to display a hidden message.

[Salgak]

That’s an old E4-B Fight Computer. I got one issued to me in USAF Navigator School in 1984...

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

His mother, English Actress Joan Shawlee.

[353FMG]

Best slide rule, in my opinion is the Japanese- built bamboo slide rule. Keep the bamboo fibers smoothly “libricated” by sprinkling it with baby powder.Best brand is “Sun” slide rules. Cost in 1961 was a whopping $15.

[reg45]

The 12C was a business model with financial functions. The HP 35 was the scientific model. I started out with a slide rule. Calculators were better for analytical chemistry when more than three significant figures were required. A slide rule is almost as fast as a calculator for multiplication and division.

[Political Junkie Too]

I still have mine from my junior high school days.

-PJ

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I think I’d have to do 10,000 int rate/payment calculations on a calculator before I trusted the results enough to commit them to a genuine real estate document. It’s not that I don’t trust the calculator, I wouldn’t trust my operation of same.

[Organic Panic]

I have both those collections. My other favorite is the yellow McMaster Carr catalog. I knew my business was legit when they finally sent me a paper catalog.

[Organic Panic]

I got a few from thrift stores and garage sales. Don’t have a clue what to do with them. I just like keeping them in my desk.

[Daveinyork]

In 1965 and 1966, high school physics class, we were all required to have and use slide rules.

[Daveinyork]

I wore out two of those HP12c’s. Now I have a simulator on my phone.

[Psalm 73]

After “The Collapse”, the slide rule will seem like a gift from God - computers may become like boat anchors, but the slide rule can move us forward again.