Slide Rules - have you EVER

[Cerebrum123]

I'm pretty sure I had one of the circular ones, never used it though, or even learned how to.

[QuantaFille]

At work we have what appears to be a circular one, but made by hand out of cardstock. I see it in the area where lenses are cut out for their frames, but I have no idea what it's used for.

[rogue06]

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)

Both A and 2 -- although the next week it was announced we could use a calculator if we had one (this was back when they cost nearly $100 each).

[firstfloor]

[Cow Poke]

At work we have what appears to be a circular one, but made by hand out of cardstock. I see it in the area where lenses are cut out for their frames, but I have no idea what it's used for.

A lot of those things are for shipping costs, considering weights, distance, etc or calculating some other math. When I worked for the gas compression company, there was a round one like that for calculating what size cylinders should be on gas compressors considering a number of variables such as throughput, pressure, temperature, etc.

Here's one to calculate photographic exposure...

round calculator.jpg

[QuantaFille]

A lot of those things are for shipping costs, considering weights, distance, etc or calculating some other math. When I worked for the gas compression company, there was a round one like that for calculating what size cylinders should be on gas compressors considering a number of variables such as throughput, pressure, temperature, etc.

Here's one to calculate photographic exposure...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]27957[/ATTACH]

Ours is a lot more complicated than that one. The numbers or letters or whatever are so tiny, I can't make them out clearly just walking by, even with my glasses on. There is a lot of math involved in optics so I figured it has something to do with that, I just don't know what exactly this is used for that the computer it belongs next to can't do.

[Sparko]

Have you seen mossy's slide rule?



It is how she calculates ballistic trajectories after she pins something.

[Cow Poke]

Ours is a lot more complicated than that one. The numbers or letters or whatever are so tiny, I can't make them out clearly just walking by, even with my glasses on. There is a lot of math involved in optics so I figured it has something to do with that, I just don't know what exactly this is used for that the computer it belongs next to can't do.

So, they put tiny numbers on that thing so you'll need glasses to read it!!!

[Joel]

They still make wrist watches with circular slide rules. I own one and learned how to use it. Using it to figure a quick square root, division or multiplication is likely faster than pulling out your phone to use its calculator.

[Cow Poke]

They still make wrist watches with circular slide rules. I own one and learned how to use it. Using it to figure a quick square root, division or multiplication is likely faster than pulling out your phone to use its calculator.

But does it tell time?