How many of you used one of these to solve math problems?

[Are_grits_groceries]

Memories....

[sinkingfeeling]

1. All through my college days. I guess I had one in high school as well. Mine

was yellow.

[Fumesucker]

2. K&E Log log duplex decitrig n/t

[MineralMan]

26. Mine was a Pickett. The nice yellow metal one.

It's somewhere in a drawer. 1963 was a long time ago.

[cloudbase]

65. I've got one as well.

Worst advice I've ever received: (1972) If you're going to become an engineer, buy the best slide rule you can, because you'll be using it all your professional life.

[SarasotaDem]

3. I did

and later came the Wang Calculator

[sdfernando]

9. a simple ruler or measuring tape would have sufficed! /NT

[oldhippie]

13. Not unless it had some log scales. nt

[sdfernando]

33. Don't need log scales to calculate your wang :) /nt

[green917]

66. that depends

On the size of your Wang

[SarasotaDem]

89. LOL

[link:|

[Mass]

4. During my first two years of college, even if hand-held calculators already existed.

After that, never again.

[LumosMaxima]

5. I own one.

My dad picked it up at a garage sale, and then a year or two later, my high school algebra teacher insisted that we learned to use one.

[TexasProgresive]

6. Yes and I think I have that very slipstick and case at home. n/t

[Boom Sound 416]

7. Always wanted to learn how to used those

[malthaussen]

8. Nope, never went beyond algebra in H.S.

By the time I took calculus, the slipstick was a thing of the past. And I managed to avoid trig altogether.

-- Mal

[RebelOne]

60. I was lucky to even have passed algebra.

I still don't understand it. Trigonometry was much easier than algebra. Never took calculus. I hated math and still do. Thank goodness for calculators.

[malthaussen]

62. Oh, algebra gave me fits.

I could not reliably solve quadratics to save my soul. Calculus was actually fun, until I had to start doing integrals... and there came those damned quadratics again.

Did so badly the first time I took Algebra, I had to re-take in summer school. Had a brilliant teacher and passed with a B. Several years later, I had to do it again in college, and barely squeaked through. I am not one of those people who "uses algebra every day."

-- Mal

[dipsydoodle]

10. Never did get my head round one of those.

Preferred paper log tables instead - this was 1950's.

When I was 11 or so It fascinated me that my father could work out any root of any number , obviously within reason , in his head. When he was nearly seventy it occurred to me to ask him how he did it. When he was teenager he'd memorised the log and antilog tables and could still do it.

[rdharma]

11. Is that a ruler?

A Texas Instruments scientific calculator is almost as bad.

[PowerToThePeople]

12. How about this?

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. If you think about it, those devices helped get us to the moon.

In the days of the design process for the Saturn V, the slide rule was pretty much all there was that was easily portable and cheap.

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. True

Not mocking it.

[A HERETIC I AM]

19. Didn't think you were!

[Are_grits_groceries]

30. ...

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. the round one was even cooler, endless, in a way.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

31. Pilots use the round ones.

[A HERETIC I AM]

39. You mean the venerable E6-B?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

46. Wow. Mine was nowhere as cool.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

48. Not quite that complicated but it did have the flat part running through it.

I know it was a Jeppesen.

My ex had a single engine license and I'd use it to calculate speed.
We also used it in car rallies(those are fun!). He taught me about triangulating with VORs (I think). The white cones.

There were about 3 diff freqs of radar he had to deal with flying a crate with a prop on the front. It was fun.

[dawg]

55. That reminds me of this ...

just a little newer.

[A HERETIC I AM]

59. That's just a prehistoric Rodeo Belt Buckle! n/t

[Lithos]

56. I had two

One like this which I inherited

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Circular_slide_rule.JPG

And another traditional straight one.

[hobbit709]

15. Had one but most of the time I could do it in my head faster.

[Savannahmann]

16. I learned how to use it

But didn't get much with it. Calculators were just coming into vogue when I was in school.

I like to tell kids today that wooden things like that were what we people used to figure out how to send man to the moon. It is for all intents and purposes, a lost technology to todays youth.

[Nye Bevan]

18. I mostly used log tables, but I found slide rules fascinating (nt)

[Scuba]

20. Pickett or Post? Pickett or Post? I just can't decide.

[MineralMan]

23. I'm definitely a Pickett man, myself.

[oldhippie]

36. That was the first big decision I had to make .....

... as an adult and a freshman engineering student in 1966. When we went to the school bookstore during orientation to purchase our first year's books and supplies we had to choose between the metal Pickett or the bamboo Post. The old heads told us to go with the bamboo Post, even though it was a little more expensive, because it would work a little better in the extreme cold temps at my school. And, no, our classrooms were heated, but after walking from the dorm to class for 30 minutes in -30 ° temps, they contracted and didn't slide very well. The bamboo would warm up and start slipping a little faster.

Such were the things I worried about in the 60's.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

21. Me. being a plaintiff's lawyer I still use it to divide everything by 33.3%

Very handy

[Brother Buzz]

27. Totally DUzy worthy!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

38. That's the only fraction lawyers know---one-third, ha ha!!

Yes I am a lawyer and also a broken-down court reporter. Emphasis on broken-down. Did it for 20 years and the stress made me hate people.
Started at 22 and was burned out by 35.

But I'm OK now. I quit doing it back in the 90s and let my state license lapse b/c I was disgusted with the state board.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

52. good to hear.

burning out is nasty.

Came close several years ago, after a drunk blasted through a red light, and changed my entire lifestyle. You never really get used to the pain.

[oldhippie]

22. I still have mine, same as the one in the picture ....

Post Versa-Log laminated bamboo slide rule. I used it in engineering school in the 60's and a for a few years later. Got my first HP-35 calculator in 1973, which pretty much replaced the slide rule. I kept it, though, just for old times sake. I just pulled it out and it still slips just fine! I'll pass it to my son when I die.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. My husband used the slide rule every day of his

working life. He designed parts that are on the Stealth, the cases that satellite parts are stored in, and parts of the Mars rovers landing mechanism. It's still a valuable tool.

[dickthegrouch]

28. I graduated from that to the Sinclair build-it-yourself calculator

No engineer should be without one

[jimlup]

29. My Physics class in HS was the very last one to learn to use a SR

I'm glad I know. I threaten my (physics) students with it anytime they say they forgot their calculator.

[struggle4progress]

32. I still have several, including a lovely circular one

[Hoyt]

34. I had an antique magnesium one used by granddad. It was stolen, thank god. I looked goofy with

a pocket protector and a slide rule hanging off my belt, not to mention the big black Buddy Holly glasses.

[Uben]

35. Still have two of them!

I'm a little slow on catching up with tech skills.

[central scrutinizer]

37. I had a round one in high school

With the C and D scales on the outside, you could get better accuracy than with a straight one because the circumference was greater than 10 or 12 inches. I have several that I bring to my college algebra class whenever we learn logarithms. I also pass out log tables and have students do complicated calculations involving fifth roots using only paper and pencil. Really makes the students understand scientific notation and properties of exponents.

[Cleita]

40. Raises hand. n/t

[rhett o rick]

41. I wish. I couldnt afford one of those. I think mine was a Post brand.

Funny thing, when I graduated I bought myself a brand new K&E and never used it. When I got a job I was using a Texas Instruments calculator.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

42. I solved the problem of solving math problems by avoiding math classes.

[Aldo Leopold]

43. Oh yeah!

I remember that! Thanks for the trip down memory lane .

[Manifestor_of_Light]

44. My piano and violin teacher taught me how to use one.

Yes, after my 2 weekly music lessons were over.

Didn't use them in school.

Mine is white in a gray case. Looks a lot like the one in the picture except mine is a Sterling.

I used to have an old one that was so ancient it was wood with an ivory top.

[FarCenter]

45. No, have a Pickett Model N4-ES Vector-Type Log Log Dual-Base Speed Rule

IIRC, they were roughly $20 back in the early '60s, which would be around $200 today.

Also have two Model N902-ES Simplex Trig models - one is mine and one is Mrs FarCenter's.

[starroute]

47. I've still got two of them sitting down in the basement

A cheap white one that I had to buy and learn to use for a high school science class. And a fancy yellow one with a leather case like in the photo that a friend of my parents gave me by way of encouragement before I went off to college.

Damn things were expensive, too, as I recall. But when I was in college I used to see the engineering students with cheap plastic circular ones that fit into a shirt pocket. I never did find out how those worked.

[Rex]

49. What the hell is that thing?

[Adrahil]

50. In high school, yes.

I have a teacher who insisted we know how to use one. But after passing a test on using it, we moved to caluclators. Haven;t touched it since. Still have it, along with the instruction book, though.

[mainer]

51. Wish i could remember where mine is

Got all the way to grad school with one of those.

[longship]

53. In both Junior and High School and University.

By the time I returned to University in the 70's to complete my degree (physics) I had a series of increasingly powerful Hewlett-Packard calculators, the state of the art in form, function, and reliability. My slide rules went into my desk drawer. I don't know what became of them, but the last one was very sophisticated.

Good memories.

[The Traveler]

54. I think I have that one's twin brother

And the yellow picket ...

But I got the most mileage out of a little circular slide rule that fit in my jeans pocket ... never went anywhere without it for years. Back then I was a Georgia Tech physics nerd. Good times ... Hamiltonians and beer ...

Trav

[Spitfire of ATJ]

57. Still have one with my old drafting tools.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

58. My dad did. nt

[1000words]

61. Nope. Did use calculators before they all went to Silicon Heaven, though

[Autumn]

63. Still have it, along with the drafting tools.

[The CCC]

64. How many of you used one of these to solve math problems?

I learned physics and college level chemistry using one. I don't miss them at all.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

67. I still have mine.

Used to keep it on my desk at work to support my nerd credentials.

[ColesCountyDem]

68. I still have mine. n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

69. Junior High, High School, Yes

Calculators came out just before my frosh college year in 1973. Then the really clever ones came out between my 2nd and 3rd year.

Slide rule went bye-bye after that.

Do you remember the giant one that would run above the blackboard in high school math class?

[sorcrow]

77. Giant slide rules rule

"Do you remember the giant one that would run above the blackboard in high school math class?"

They were great. I saw one at a yard sale about 25 years ago. I still kick myself for not buying it.

Crow

[rurallib]

70. Solve? Well solve is maybe a bit too far

take a stab at, yes. Estimate? yes.

[SouthernLiberal]

71. I had one of those, but I never used it to solve a math problem

In High School, I had a Chemistry teacher who insisted we learn how to use those things. Unfortunately, everyone in the class had been in the same 8th grade math class. We had a great teacher, who ended most classes with five or 10 minutes of competitive mental arithmetic. For a few golden years we were all faster than a calculator (because you didn't need to enter any numbers into us!). So the first time he coached us through using the slide rule, we all knew at once that we got the 'wrong' answer. The teacher thought he could make us use them by requiring them in tests, but we just worked out what the correct answer was, then messed with the slide rule a bit, dropped a few decimal points in the correct answer and wrote that down.

No.. we weren't a room full of geniuses or anything. It was all that practice in complex mental arithmetic in 8th grade. As soon as we had calculators, we forgot all our mental math tricks.

[Chaco Dundee]

72. good question

Did not all of us use a slide ruler to learn and understand math.

[BooBrown]

73. Used one in high school chemistry

This was in the mid 70's. My high school included kids from the more affluent areas of town who could afford science calculators. I can't remember how much they cost, but it was enough that I didn't even bother asking my folks for one.

I learned to use the slide rule my dad had used in college. It was exactly like the one in the picture.

[PCIntern]

74. Slip-stick with talcum powder for FAST calculations!!

I was pretty good with my excellent model, the name of which escapes me at this time...

[ewagner]

75. Me....

Only the really cool kids walked down the hall with a slide rule on their belt....

oh....

check that!!!

[Vashta Nerada]

76. I don't even know what that is.

Seriously.

[ScreamingMeemie]

78. It's a slide rule. A lot of people still use them. I was kind of shocked that OP thinks they're old

to be honest. My husband was an engineer/programmer and used his every day as I'm sure quite a few do.

[TrogL]

79. Mine was yellow. I've still got my father's in its original case.

[nadinbrzezinski]

80. I have my brother's. never used it

I was too young.

[idendoit]

81. Mine had a custom belt holster.

[5X]

82. Ours were made of stone,

arranged in a circle out in a field. I'm really old.

It just occurred to me what stone henge is.

[Jack Rabbit]

83. Yes, a long time ago

It was in 1971 when I took a course in statistics. One day, the professor showed the class a new thing called an electronic calculator. He had to wheel it in on a cart. It definitely wouldn't fit in a pocket. Nowdays, a calculator with as much functionality as that one is about half the size of a credit card.

Thinking about surviving the stone ages really make me feel old.

[Jim Lane]

84. I used one. I also used an abacus.

It’s not because I was at the next desk over from John McCain and the
abacus was still state of the art. Rather, using the slide rule (required in
Physics class) got me interested in hand-held computing, so I learned to
use an abacus that my parents had given me a couple years earlier.

In 1970 my high school had ONE electric calculator that students could
use. It was a big old clunky thing that you had to plug in and that
weighed more than today’s laptops. It couldn’t even display the answer
on a screen. It would click and whirr and then print out a tape:

2
+2

=4

It wasn’t much of a competitor for our slide rules.

It turned out that it wasn’t even much of a competitor for my abacus.
One day, after some of what we would now call trash talking, a contest
was arranged. Add up a column of numbers provided by one of the math
teachers, with me on the abacus and my friend on the electric calculator.
Because I mention it now, you’ve probably guessed that I won.

[idendoit]

85. What a great story.

I still have a tiny size abacus. My sister's college gift of a "pocket calculator". Trouble is it's made of solid brass and is heavy for it's size. Anyway congratulations on your well earned win. Still got your Slide?

[Jim Lane]

87. Alas, only the memories remain.

I would never have deliberately thrown out either the slide rule or the abacus, but somewhere over the years and multiple moves they both fell by the wayside. So did my high school yearbooks and all the photos I took back then. (No, young 'uns, I don't still have the jpg's on my hard drive. Back then you opened up the back of the camera, extracted the used roll of film, and took it down to the drugstore or to Fotomat. Several days later you went back and picked up an envelope that had prints of your pictures, plus sheets of negatives that could be brought back in if you wanted additional prints.)

And here's an anthem for all this nostalgia, from one of my favorite musicians, Steve Key:

He doesn't mention slide rules or cameras but he hits a lot of other memories.

[kentauros]

86. No.

But I did use one of these in drafting





as well as a set of these

[spanone]

88. avoided it like the plague