Two generations ago a standard uniform identified engineers: white shirt, narrow tie, pocket protector and slide rule. The shirt and tie evolved into a T-shirt sporting some software advertisement. The pocket protector has been replaced by a cell phone holster. And the slide rule has become an electronic calculator.
Take another look at that slide rule. Pull it out of the drawer you stashed it in 30 years ago or make one of your own. You'll see why it was once so valuable.
This article was originally published with the title When Slide Rules Ruled.
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3 Comments
Add Commentlooking forward to reading the article about slide rules.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLooking forward to reading what Mr. Stoll has to say. I don't always agree with him, but he provokes thought, which is a good thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose interested in slide rules may appreciate my Web site at http://www.mathed.org/slide.html that shows how to use them for teaching and how to use the basic idea to create new scales that can do things like find the third side of a right triangle, add parallel resistances and add velocities relativistically.
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