The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry, and typically not for addition or subtraction.
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Are slide rulers still used?
There are many pages about slide rules on the web, and you can still buy brand new slide rules (40 years old but never used, and still in their factory supplied box) in various places.
What is a slide rule in mathematics?
slide rule, a device consisting of graduated scales capable of relative movement, by means of which simple calculations may be carried out mechanically.
What slide rules did NASA use?
NASA chose a 5-inch, metal rule, model “N600-ES,” manufactured by the Pickett Company for their use. It was a model that was popular among engineers, scientists and students at the time. No modifications were needed for use in space.
Are old slide rules worth anything?
The rarest slide rules are 19th Century hand-engraved instruments such as Palmers Computing Scale (a circular model), first published in 1843, or the cylindrical ‘Thacher’s Patent Calculating Instrument’ slide rules produced by Keuffel and Esser Co in the 1880s. These can run close to $1,000 in good condition.
How does slide rule look?
2.972 How A Slide Rule Works. The slide rule is actually made of three bars that are fixed together. The sliding center bar is sandwiched by the outer bars which are fixed with respect to each other. The metal “window” is inserted over the slide rule to act as a place holder.
Why was slide rule invented?
William Oughtred made the first slide rule by inscribing logarithms on wood or ivory. Before the invention of the pocket or handheld calculator, the slide rule was a popular tool for calculations. The use of slide rules continued until about 1974, after which electronic calculators became more popular.
Who invented slide ruler?
William OughtredThe slide rule was invented by William Oughtred in the 1600’s, but only began to be widely used in the mid 1800’s after a French artillery officer named Amedee Mannheim developed a version that became popular among engineers. By the early 1900’s engineering students in the US were commonly taught to use slide rules.
How was the slide rule man put on the moon?
NASA engineers used slide rules to build the rockets and plan the mission that landed Apollo 11 on the moon. It’s said that Buzz Aldrin needed his pocket slide rule for last-minute calculations before landing.The museum just ended a three-year exhibit on slide rules.
How accurate is a slide rule?
A slide rule is only as accurate as its manufacture and calibration and your ability to set it and read values. In practice, you get between two and three significant figures from slide rule calculations, and these errors compound as you use intermediate values in subsequent calculations.
What was the best slide rule ever made?
Faber-Castell 2/83N Novo-Duplex: Size 38 x 7 cm, 30 scales, plastic. This model is regarded by some as one of the finest slide rules ever made. Its combination of size, build, sophistication of scales offered and attractive use of colour gives a slide rule that impresses!
How do you make a slide ruler?
How to make a slide rule (or log-log or semilog graph paper)
- Take an ordinary ruler, and put decimal points before the numbers marking the inches.
- To position the major (black) divisions on the logarithmic scale, calculate the base-10 logarithm of each integer from 2 to 9 and plot the integer at that place on the ruler.
How does the Arithmometer work?
The computing engine of an arithmometer has a set of linked Leibniz wheels coupled to a crank handle. Each turn of the crank handle rotates all the Leibniz wheels by one full turn. The input sliders move counting wheels up and down the Leibniz wheels, which are themselves linked by a carry mechanism.
When was the slide rule last used?
July 11, 1976
Slide rules became increasingly popular in the 1950s and 1960s, before beginning to fall out of favor to pocket calculators, which, by the mid 1970s, had become affordable and were considered significantly easier to use by the masses. The last slide rule manufactured in the United States was produced on July 11, 1976.
When was invented slide rule?
1622
About 1622, William Oughtred (Figure 1, right), an Anglican Minister, today recognized as the inventor of the slide rule in its actual form, by placing two such scales side by side and sliding them to read the distance relationships, thus multiplying and dividing directly.