Slide rules

I took great delight in throwing them out after they became redundant, but I regret doing that now, for the same reason as I want to show the g daughters that this is how we did it.

This came up in a conversation with my drinking companion, some weeks ago when I was talking about how we used to be educated, but I never followed it up.

Dave

Reply to
Dave
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Mine is a double sided rule with all sorts of odd outer scales and I'm not sure I ever knew how to use all of them.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

Ditto. I've just counted them: 24 scales, and 10 lines on the cursor.

I've just taken a look at eBay and it seems to have no value in the nostalgia market either.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

The one I had at school was double-sided, but that wasn't necessary for school work. It was my dad's, and he's a physicist. The one I picked up from ebay is just single sided.

If you search with google, you can find people with pages of just about every slide rule ever produced and what all the scales on them were.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Now that is cool ...

:-)

takes me back to days of slide rules, log tables, "turn the handle" calculator machines

and this thing ...

But I was a decimal taught kid at school. Work that one out ;-)

Reply to
Adrian C

I just found the British Thornton one I bought in the second week of October 1970! More to the point, it has the instructions...

Reply to
Bob Eager

I have one of these, in working condition...!

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Reply to
Bob Eager

Nearly 40 years after I last used log tables I can still remember that log Pi is 0.4971 as well as log 2, 3,5 & 6. Sad or what?

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

I think it's impressive.

I'm not going to check - by the time I get downstairs I'll have forgotten :-)

Mary

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Adrian C coughed up some electrons that declared:

I've got one of those - in fact I think I have my grandfather's one too which is far more fancy but the same principle.

Reply to
Tim S

You say the nicest things Mary - I have always had a soft spot for you!!

Bob

Reply to
Bob Minchin

Yes, it is sad.

Is Ian Allan the publisher?

Reply to
Andy Hall

I can recall pi (to ten places) = 3.141592754. Even sadder?

Reply to
Bruce

Sssshhhhhhh! You'll get a bad reputation!

Reply to
Mary Fisher

Rubbing beeswax or a candle on the sliding surfaces can also help (and won't leave marks on your fingers, etc.).

Reply to
Adam Funk

I still know log 1, 10 *and* 100. YBS :-)

Reply to
Rod

Yes. You got it wrong! :P

I remembered the 1st 8 digits and just asked Windows Calc to check for me that it's

3.141592 6 535897932384626433832795 (about)

The isolated digit being the last one I remembered, and the first one you have wrong...

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

... and to this day I regret not having asked my Uni for one of the 50 mechanical ones that they had sitting unused in one of the labs...

Andy

Reply to
Andy Champ

What about 'e'?

2.71 something innit?
Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Well that's it then. I am officially ...

OLD. :-(

Reply to
Bruce

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