NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: recommendation for slide rule ?
From: Michael Dorl
Date: 2011 Nov 23, 14:41 -0600
From: Michael Dorl
Date: 2011 Nov 23, 14:41 -0600
On 11/23/2011 1:57 PM, Patrick Goold wrote: > ThinkGeek Sliderules. New. $10. Google it! Sounds like a deal if you don't need the missing scales. Also no mention of materials used. See comments at http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/be12/?itm=thinkgeek_slide_rule&rkgid=276375949&cpg=ogty1&source=google_toys&gclid=CI2s593JzawCFQIDQAodYRXKqg Being an engineering student in the late 50s I did many calculation with a slide rule. If you needed more accuracy, you used log tables or if you were really fortunate a Monroe or Merchant calculator. The surveying course was a real bear because you had to use logs. One problem with a slide rule is figuring out where the decimal point goes; I was pretty good at doing that by guess and by golly but my room mate had some algorithm that involved the number of digits in the multiplicands and which end of the slide rule the center slider was sticking out of. I remember my high school trig class had about a ten foot long slide rule hanging above the chalkboard that the instructor used to teach us how to use the thing. And then there were the circular slide rules.... http://compare.ebay.com/like/170733386474 If anyone wants a Post Versalog, let me know.