Oh Hell No

I can use reverse polish notation like a bat outta hell though. Does that count?

I have one and a 7 digit log book. No idea how to use either one.

I have two Post Versalogs: 10" and 6", and can still use them – with glasses. But only for fun – say, to impress the UCSD students at Peet's Coffee & Tea. I liked the Versalog for its better square root and log scales, but I always thought that the K&E was a nicer-looking instrument.

http://pmburgess.blogspot.com/...log-no-1460.html?m=1

I believe my slide rule was a Pickett, I used it frequently in high school physics and electronics. I also had a circular side rule. But I was not a propeller-head, who carried the slide rule in a holster on their belt.

Always wanting to be different, I had a small Gilson circular slide rule for trig.

quote:

Originally posted by slyguy:
Oh Hell No

I can use reverse polish notation like a bat outta hell though. Does that count?

I teach accounting in college. It is common for students to forget their calculator for an exam, ask if they can borrow mine. I give them my HP 12C with RPN. Invariably the student plays with it, gives it back, and tells me they will do the problems by hand.

Never even handled one.

I'm 34.

Yes, all the common functions. Some I was a little vague on 50 years ago and it hasn't gotten better since.

I have one... maybe two. Someone gave them to me when I started at GT, but I've never really looked into figuring out how to use one.

Oh hell yeah. A nice bamboo with a small canister of talcum powder, clean eyeglasses, and a good grasp of scientific notation and one is good to go.

Neatest thing I learned and still [somewhat] remember? How to find the nth root of a given number. But that was back in '72 so I'd probably stumble around a little today, at least for the first few hours.

Don't think I've even ever seen a slide rule.

Used them in college before calculators were common (read cheap as dirt ), still around here somewhere. Was talking to a friend a while back who is a engineer asked him if he still knew how to use one, mumbled something about you can never go back and changed the subject.

I had a couple of them - one I had was a circular slide rule that would fit in a shirt pocket

also had a really nice wooden linear one

wish I still had them but I tossed them when I was part way through engineering school

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
...one I had was a circular slide rule that would fit in a shirt pocket...

Found an old photo of you using that one:

I still have mine. I used it for high school and college physics. I pull it out ever now and then just to see if I remember how to use it....takes me a little while but some of it comes back.

When the HP 35 came out everyone wanted one because of those pesky decimal points BUT they were about $400 and engineering managers just laughed when we wanted the company to buy them for us.
Initially Colleges would not let students use calculators in class or for exams I don't know when that breakthrough occurred. Even SR-10s were quite expensive for those times.
Doing statistics without a calculator was a slow process until we got our first deck top.

I am firmly of the opinion that a lot of mistakes are made because after the SR era, people no longer had to have a good idea of the answer before they work the problem.

There is a tendency to punch in numbers and write down answers as they pop up without worrying about whether they make sense.

When we did exams using the SR, the Profs only expected 3 place accuracy but the answer had to make sense.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
I had a couple of them - one I had was a circular slide rule that would fit in a shirt pocket

also had a really nice wooden linear one

wish I still had them but I tossed them when I was part way through engineering school

I have a few engineers that always bring their fluid dynamics circular rulers to meetings.

Still have mine, can use the multiply and divide, but the other functions.......

Useta could. Probably couldn't now, though.

quote:

Originally posted by StarTraveler:

I had to buy a new Texas Instruments calculator every year after that until buying an HP11C calculator in the fall of 1983. I still use it at work every day.

Still using my HP 11C, daily at work, bought about the same time.