| ▲ | How Slide Rules Work(amenzwa.github.io) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 78 points by ColinWright 8 hours ago | 20 comments | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | bogardon an hour ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
For people into watches, check out this video (and the whole series of watch and learn) on slide rules on watches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuK_77DEUfw | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | throw0101a 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
This education film from 1957 gives a good overview of using one: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYQdKbQ-sgM "Professor Herning" (?) also has a good series of videos on the use of various scales as well: * https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorHerning/videos His playlist starting at the beginning (C and D scales) with a Manheim layout: * https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_qcL_RF-ZyvWJJkJOk_O... * https://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M37_Post_Manheim_Instruc... Some manuals / books on slide rules: * 1909: https://archive.org/details/mannheimsliderul00coxwrich * 1922: https://archive.org/details/cu31924002978561/mode/2up | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | JKCalhoun 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Deep dive, for sure. I suspect Cliff Stoll is enjoying this site. I played with creating a logarithmic slider thing [1] in Javascript that I hoped I could package up as a kind of "widget" people could use on their web pages. But I don't really know Javascript that well—or rather how to make an API out of a Javascript thing. Anyway, to test it I tried to make an Ohm's Law calculator [2]. I would love to see a site like the one in this post have some kind of interactive slide rule on the web page itself. [1] https://github.com/EngineersNeedArt/SlideRule [2] https://www.engineersneedart.com/ohmslaw/index.html (the yellow slider is not directly user-moveable in this example) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | entaloneralie 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
I have a little collection of them. I keep the small Hemmi bamboo on the navigation table at all time. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | clickety_clack 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Slide rules are super cool. Such an easy gift to give the engineer in your life. I never spent the time to get quick with it, but I could absolutely see it being quicker than a calculator. You’d just have to be aware of the limits to its precision if you were in a field that required it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | inamberclad 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
For the past 10 years, I've worn a slide rule every day. It's a small circular one modeled after the E6B aviation slide rule, with markers for common aviation conversions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | watersb 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
A sort of non-logarithmic slide rule, the E6B Flight Computer, was still in use when I was a student pilot 20 years ago. I still carry one: they don't require electricity (although using one in the dark requires a light source). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | jamesgill 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Last week I donated several slide rules to Goodwill; a few were very nice. Meanwhile, I still have a pristine HP-41cx and HP-15c, and an HP-25 app on my iPhone. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | fjfaase 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
I have one at home, which is the one we had to buy to use in highschool. In the math classrooms we had a 6 feet version that could be mounted on the blackboard such that the teacher could used for instruction. See for a picture on the Dutch page https://rekenlat.barneveld.com/rekenliniaal.htm | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | egl2020 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
I still have the wooden 10" Keuffel and Esser that I inherited from my father and that I used in college. These days I use my HP15C unless I want to provoke glee and amusement in my younger colleagues by sporting my Pickett slide rule in my shirt pocket. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | gerdesj 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
It is worth keeping one around. When the "cloud" is raining and your laptop and phone batteries are drained and you suddenly need to navigate your 4823 times table - its got you covered. You will also need to work out how to write with a pen or pencil on paper or try and fix up your atrophied ability to remember arbitrary "facts" short term. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | NetMageSCW 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The HP-35 wasn’t programmable- it was just a scientific calculator. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | kingforaday 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
This would have been helpful for Sam Cooke. | |||||||||||||||||||||||