Slide Rules - have you EVER

[Cow Poke]

Have you ever actually used a slide rule?



A) Just in class to learn how?
2) In class as part of doing actual math?
C) In business, engineering, or whatever for work?

For me, only A)

[mossrose]

Nope.

[Faber]

Same here. By the time I got into the workplace handheld calculators came out.

[The Melody Maker]

I tried using one once to do my homework at my grandparents' place. Though not as easy to use as a calculator, it was an interesting and different experience.

[Littlejoe]

I worked as a Project Designer for a Civil Engineer for 6 years but never saw one used. The computer did all the work that a Slide rule would be needed for...I've seen it used, but never even studied how it functions.

[Sparko]

I just used one a few months ago.

Not as a slide rule, but as an exhibit in a trial!

I borrowed my friend's slide rule and let the lawyers at work borrow it for a trial they were having. Not sure exactly what they did with it, but they needed a slide rule!

I did use one once back in the 70s in Algebra or something like that in high school. For about 1 semester. Pretty interesting things. Whoever invented them was ingenious.

[Cow Poke]

I just used one a few months ago.

Not as a slide rule, but as an exhibit in a trial!

I borrowed my friend's slide rule and let the lawyers at work borrow it for a trial they were having. Not sure exactly what they did with it, but they needed a slide rule!

I did use one once back in the 70s in Algebra or something like that in high school. For about 1 semester. Pretty interesting things. Whoever invented them was ingenious.

There are even ROUND ones, that are far less known.

[Cow Poke]

Whoever invented them was ingenious.

True dat!

What brought them to my mind was that my wife and I just watched "Hidden Figures", in which the "computers" (people who did calculations) and mission control staff used them....

[Sparko]

True dat!

What brought them to my mind was that my wife and I just watched "Hidden Figures", in which the "computers" (people who did calculations) and mission control staff used them....

I am always amazed at the things people used in the past for calculating and measuring, and for engineering. Like the Antikythera mechanism

[seer]

Me too, only A...

[Cow Poke]

I am always amazed at the things people used in the past for calculating and measuring, and for engineering. Like the Antikythera mechanism

Yessir... the things they accomplished. Whenever I'm in Southern Ohio, I like to go on an Amish Barn safari. They have HUGE barns with no internal supports - no big columns or posts - just big open areas, and they have been standing for decades!

[Sparko]

Yessir... the things they accomplished. Whenever I'm in Southern Ohio, I like to go on an Amish Barn safari. They have HUGE barns with no internal supports - no big columns or posts - just big open areas, and they have been standing for decades!

But the people in the past were stupid weren't they? I mean they believed in spirits and magic and they didn't even have phones or flush toilets!

[Cow Poke]

But the people in the past were stupid weren't they? I mean they believed in spirits and magic and they didn't even have phones or flush toilets!

At least they never flushed their phones down their toilets!

[37818]

Yes, to calculate feeds and speeds for lathe work. Nothing fancy.

Today I use a[n obsolete] programmable calculator for CNC milling feeds and speeds. And to make calculations for operator adjustments where it is not the simple addition and subtraction.

[Jedidiah]

Mostly A for me too. I kept mine for years, but if I found I would have to figure out how to work it all over. It never became second nature to me.