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Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

#71

Post by kjellsbells »

I've picked it back up as an intentional way of slowing myself down during calculations.

Typically to do a calc I fire up Excel or the calc on my phone, bang in the numbers and accept the result without thinking. It's that "without thinking" part that is dangerous. The slide rule is slow and physical and forces my brain to think about the inputs. Another nice feature is that it can give you quick answers when you aren't sure of the accuracy of the inputs. eg if 2 * 4 was really 1.8*4.1, what would the answer be? It's quicker to see that on a slide rule (one tap on the ruler) than punch in 7 characters.

Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

#74

Post by teeray »

gcr wrote: post #51

I designed and 3D-printed my own slide rule to help me play Balatro! Balatro is a roguelike survival game where you need to multiply "chips" and "mult" together to meet a requirement each round. You get three chances to draft enough resources to survive. I designed my own slide rule to help with the mental multiplication - most of the fun of the game comes from the mechanics being slightly obscured from the player. S…

As a bonus, multiplication and division can feel like operating a Stargate ;)

Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

#76

Post by c22 »

betaporter wrote: post #8

I do not use, and have never used, a slide rule. My grandfather was an aeronautical engineering / materials scientist for McDonnell Aircraft, and did a lot of foundational work on heat shields for early space flight (or so I am told). He was eventually named a McDonnell Douglas Fellow, back when there were fewer than 15 Fellows - the company, at the time, took out a full-page ad in Aerospace Magazine announcing it. I…

My grandfather was a computational meteorologist for the US Air Force who passed when I was a kid. I inherited both his slide rule and his laptop (a 486dx with a math coprocessor!) It felt cool being the only kid at the school with a laptop, but the slide rule languished in a box under my bed until I got it out and figured out how to work it in college. I wish I'd figured it out sooner because it gave a more visceral understanding of the mathematical relationships that I'd been lacking before. Granted, the slide rule has sat mostly idle since then, but it was definitely worth it. I'd encourage you to give it a go.

Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

#77

Post by iancmceachern »

Enginerrrd wrote: post #46

I have one on my watch. It’s a citizen with a circular slide rule /E6B flight computer. I need my reading glasses to use it, but it’s fun. It can reliably get me 2 sig figs, and a decent guess at a third. But… if I think about it for a minute, I can usually get that in my head anyway. Being able to setup a ratio is great though for unit conversions and things. It’s also really good for answering that question when dr…

I have one of these Citizens, it was my first "nice" watch.

They're really cool

Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?

#79

Post by droopyEyelids »

gcr wrote: post #51

I designed and 3D-printed my own slide rule to help me play Balatro! Balatro is a roguelike survival game where you need to multiply "chips" and "mult" together to meet a requirement each round. You get three chances to draft enough resources to survive. I designed my own slide rule to help with the mental multiplication - most of the fun of the game comes from the mechanics being slightly obscured from the player. S…

How much did it help? How far have you ascended?
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