Inspired by this Ask HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46834977
But I'm going further back in time to see if there is anybody here who still uses slide rules?
Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
1–10 of 131 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#2Naw. I used to, but it's so long ago, I'm not sure I could do it now if you put one in front of me. What you don't use atrophies.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#3Yes. Still use my E6B, no matter how much hate I get from other pilots.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#4I still use one of mine on occasion. I would say 2-6 times a month.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#5Yeah, to intimidate kids when they don't deliver academically :)
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#6I have two or three that I inherited from my dad. I've never learned to use them because I haven't thought of something I'd use them for. The one thing I could think of is quickly doing fractional math while woodworking (what width will I have if I rip this 7.5" board into 4 pieces?) but in reality I just don't actually do that much math while woodworking.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#7Now that's a properly dead skill, surely. I have my dad's one somewhere, and know roughly how it works, but I've not touched it this century.
I also have one of these: https://archive.org/details/spencersdecimalr0000unse ; I believe they were popular around the time of the UK converting to decimal currency, to save people having to do the transitional arithmetic. Had a bunch of other tables in. A physical LUT.
I wonder if there's anyone with abacus skills here. I hear that held out against calculators a lot longer, for shopkeeper uses.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#8I 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 have his slide rule, that he used for ages. It's a mystery in a box to me - I have not the foggiest clue how it is used - but I cherish it.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#9I 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 and was required to demonstrate proficiency in its use. Of course we fly with connected digital devices these days, but having an analogue backup that operates even if the power fails is important.
Re: Ask HN: Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?
#10Knew a mechanical engineer at a place where I interned. Asked him about it and he joked that he didn't trust those transistors before explaining that it's just muscle memory to him and while a calculator would be faster he'd still earn the same per hour. Apparently I was the first to ask him in over a decade as everyone had moved on to do stuff in software and no one was pushing him to use a calculator anymore. Interns didn't inquire because they thought it must be some esoteric/religious practice. Last I heard he was still working there, management asked him to stay on past retirement age for his invaluable skillset. While its probably some other skill I just like to imagine the suits in a meeting where they decided to keep him on for this particular "skill" that no one else in the company had anymore.