Does anyone know how to use a slide rule?

[Penguin_101_1]

I was cleaning some boxes and found an old slide rule. Does anyone know how to use it? I know simple multiplication on it but nothing else.

[Scottes]

I was cleaning some boxes and found an old slide rule. Does anyone know how to use it? I know simple multiplication on it but nothing else.

Wow it's been a long time!
(No, I'm not that old, I'm just a math geek and once found slide rules fascinating...)

This page looks helpful: http://www.sliderules.clara.net/

[Belmondo]

There are several different types of slide rules, each designed for special purposes. My old standard was the Post VersaLog, and at one time in my life, I was reasonably profficient with it. It would be a challenge doing simple multiplication now. I actually don't think I've even had one in my hands in almost 40 years.

My father enjoyed a 50-year career in engineering using a slide rule, and always had one close at hand. I used to marvel at the accuracy of it, especially when he'd carry certain calculations out to 2,3, & 4 digits beyond the decimal. It turns out he had memorized the decimal equivalent of all the common fractions through 1/64, and could do a lot of the calcuations in his head. We used to make it a game with him. We'd walk up to him, point a finger at him and say something like "twenty three sixty fourths." He'd stick his hands in his hip pockets, get a thousand mile stare, and after a few moments, answer, ".359375." I'd grab a copy of Machinery's Handbook to check, and of course he was always right.

[jgbeam]

My father enjoyed a 50-year career in engineering using a slide rule, and always had one close at hand. I used to marvel at the accuracy of it, especially when he'd carry certain calculations out to 2,3, & 4 digits beyond the decimal. It turns out he had memorized the decimal equivalent of all the common fractions through 1/64, and could do a lot of the calcuations in his head. We used to make it a game with him. We'd walk up to him, point a finger at him and say something like "twenty three sixty fourths." He'd stick his hands in his hip pockets, get a thousand mile stare, and after a few moments, answer, ".359375." I'd grab a copy of Machinery's Handbook to check, and of course he was always right.

I'm in my 42nd year as a structural engineer and I still have my old K&E log log duplex decitrig stick kicking around. I used it constantly for the first fifteen years of my career, along with Monroe and Friden mechanical calculating machines. I didn't need to memorize fractions to the 64ths, but I still use 1/8ths constantly for converting to hundredths of a foot. The slide rule was an amazing tool which I became quite proficient with, but I am in awe of old Chinamen with an abacus. :?

Jim

[Penguin_101_1]

I was cleaning some boxes and found an old slide rule. Does anyone know how to use it? I know simple multiplication on it but nothing else.

Wow it's been a long time!
(No, I'm not that old, I'm just a math geek and once found slide rules fascinating...)

This page looks helpful: http://www.sliderules.clara.net/

I am also a math geek. :lol: (ETA:) and a science geek. :lol: Math and science pretty much make up a computer geek. :lol: Thanks for the site and great storys!

[PacAce]

Slide rules were a necessity in my college years as an electronics engineering student. And I still have the very same one I was using back then somewhere in the house. I found them to be the most useful in my engineering drawing class...they were great for connecting two dots to make a straight line when I had left my T-square at home. :mrgreen:

[JZaun]

I use on every day :lol: It slides in and out of a round container.... I use it to measure wood :?

In all seriousness its been over 42 years since I used one in HS :D

JZ

[robertwgross]

Some of us had our engineering education before the early four-function calculators were introduced in the market. Hence, slide rules were our primary calculation tool. Ahh, yes, the old Post Versalog.

In high school, I was the only kid in physics class that would bring along both a slide rule and a Handbook of Chemistry in Physics (for the log tables). Then one day, my classmates stole the cursor from the slide rule. However, by careful use of a thumbnail and a slip of paper, I was able to get some use out of the slide rule anyway.

In college Thermodynamics class, when it was time for the exam, everybody with a four-function calculator would show up early and fight for a seat near the wall sockets for AC power. Those of us with slide rules could sit anywhere.

---Bob Gross---