I don't use one "seriously", or even really know how to use one to be honest. But I did buy one last year, with the intention to learn to use it. Why? Novelty mostly, and just general intellectual curiosity. I haven't really had time to dig into working with it yet though. :-(
Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
61–70 of 131 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#62I had a Keuffel & Esser slide rule, but it has long since disappeared. Check out some of the other stuff they made:
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#63Obligatory Asimov quote:
"The Analytical Rule might be considered a distant relation – as a skyscraper is to a shack – of that kindergarten toy, the logarithmic Slide Rule. Darell used it with the wristflip of long practice. He made freehand drawings of the result and, as Anthor stated, there were featureless plateaus in frontal lobe regions where strong swings should have been expected."
I'd really love an Analytical Rule, this hoverboard of the early atomic era.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#64I did a little nostalgia threat on Mastodon recently. The sixth picture is of the slide rule I took to High School in 1973. https://social.bau-ha.us/@raganwald/115979168665997624 Although slide rules are a "dead skill," Aviators typically learn to use something called an E6B Flight Computer, which works on the same principle as a round slide rule. https://pilotinstitute.com/e6b-made-easy/ I have one in my flight bag…
I splurged on the metal E6B for my private training: https://asa2fly.com/metal-e6b-flight-computer/ A beautiful device... though I have to admit after getting the certificate I exclusively use Foreflight.
I have a couple of EB6s to show to my students but ever since scientific calculators were allowed in written tests, I have never used one myself. Law of cosines is good enough for wind triangles :). Worked for a commercial test as well as the ATP. It is a beautiful device though ...
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#65I don't use one "seriously", or even really know how to use one to be honest. But I did buy one last year, with the intention to learn to use it. Why? Novelty mostly, and just general intellectual curiosity. I haven't really had time to dig into working with it yet though. :-(
I found usage really helps you learn how to WAG (Wild Ass Guess).
It also scares the crap out of me to think about what infinity is: you see your slide manipulate incredible numbers, then you imagine a slide that is twice as big. Or a few feet long.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#66(Raises aged hand sheepishly)
I have one on my desk that I often use for quick estimations. It boots up in zero seconds.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#67I did a little nostalgia threat on Mastodon recently. The sixth picture is of the slide rule I took to High School in 1973. https://social.bau-ha.us/@raganwald/115979168665997624 Although slide rules are a "dead skill," Aviators typically learn to use something called an E6B Flight Computer, which works on the same principle as a round slide rule. https://pilotinstitute.com/e6b-made-easy/ I have one in my flight bag…
Similar point applies to being able to use a sextant for celestial navigation in bluewater sailing. GPS is great, until you lose power or your equipment malfunctions. Of course, you can have double or triple redundancy to make such cases vanishingly rare, but still — it’s nice to have a backup that relies on nothing outside your control. Some of it is pure nostalgia, though, I’ll admit. It a way to honor how people s…
> Some of it is pure nostalgia, though, I’ll admit. It a way to honor how people solved similar problems in the past. In the 18th century a sextant plus accurate chronometer or lunar distance table was one of the pivotal technologies of the age; you could use it to pinpoint your location on the boundless ocean within a few miles. That demands respect, and it’s also just really cool it was possible in an era before electricity and radio.
Heh heh, I was in the Sailing Cub in high school, and our Sailing Master (RIP Master Gibb) said literally the same thing about learning to navigate with sextant and chronometer even though we never sailed out of sight of land. It was all about deep respect for the history and tradition of being a Mariner.
Now I fly gliders, "the purest form of flight," and while you can get a glider with electrically operated landing gear, a jet sustainer engine, and digital navigation and flight computing devices...
There is something extraordinarily pure about the exercise of flying with everything electrical turned off (except for the transponder and radio for safety). And even purer... Flying with covered instruments so we don't even get analogue airspeed and altitude.
Circling back to slide rules... Sometimes we crave that simplicity, that direct experience of a thing.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#68I worked at a countertop shop and used a sliding rule a bit. But I also used a sticky paper with marks to get measurements off my screen. A lot of blueprints provide no dimensions for cabinets and desks.
Countertops is an industry with all the modern tools but 5000yo approach.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#69I built my own slide rule in school for fun! It looked pretty cool to me at the time. The template is still out there if you search something like "paper slide rule".
I've collected some links for building regular slide rules ([1] & [2]) as well as a circular slide rule [3]. Someone might also like the slide rule simulator [4].
[1] https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/REF/scales/MakeYourOwnSlideR...
[2] http://leewm.freeshell.org/origami/card-slide.pdf
[3] https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Scales.shtml#YingHum
[4] http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/virtual-slide-rule.ht...
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#70When I was in high school, calculators had just hit the scene. Some teachers allowed them, others didn't.
One of our teachers allowed us to bring a single page of notes to the exam. I wrote my notes on a photocopy of a slide rule. At exam time, I tore the sheet in half.
Of course the teacher thought I was being a smart-ass, and given that the tests were written when calculators were not allowed, they were never really all that useful.
In college chemistry, at each exam, they handed out a sheet that had the periodic table on one side, and a table of logarithms on the other.