When was the last time you used a slide rule?

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colinuu

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#1541379 24-Apr-2016 22:28

Probably around 1973, just before I got an HP-35. Great thing with the HP - you didn't have to worry about the powers of 10 any more...

Sideface

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#1541531 25-Apr-2016 10:55

Slide rule coffee mug

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mdf

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#1541537 25-Apr-2016 11:02

Sideface:

Slide rule coffee mug

But Egon, you said crossing the streams was bad!

We may have reached peak off-topic-ness.

edge

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#1541658 25-Apr-2016 13:55

colinuu:

Probably around 1973, just before I got an HP-35. Great thing with the HP - you didn't have to worry about the powers of 10 any more...

Funny - almost identical to me! Bought a second-hand HP35 in my first year at Otago (1975) - from memory it set me back around $100! Always remember a mate buying one of the very new HP65 programmable calculators around the same time (can't remember whether it was 1975 or 1976 once he was in med school!) - now they were an expensive replacement for the old slide rule!

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into."
— most commonly attributed to Jonathan Swift, author/theologian

daringpeter

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#1541676 25-Apr-2016 14:22

Hmmmm... probably about early 1970s. At the research laboratory I worked in we did have some Facit calculating machines, but most people used a slide rule. Now, I had (and still have, what offers??) an Otis King calculator, a circular slide rule (like the 'coffee mug') that with care could be worked to 4 significant figures. I was often asked to do calculations beyond the capacity of a straight slide rule.

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#1541684 25-Apr-2016 14:45

Sideface:

Slide rule coffee mug

Want one of those! Uber cool.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Sideface

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#1541689 25-Apr-2016 14:53

eracode:

Sideface:

Slide rule coffee mug

Want one of those! Uber cool.

Vintage Antique Slide Rule Close-Up Coffee Mug from Zazzle USD $17.85

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old3eyes

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#1541707 25-Apr-2016 16:01

About 1975 before I bought a calculator..

Regards,

Old3eyes

colinuu

246 posts

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#1541831 25-Apr-2016 20:26

colinuu:

Probably around 1973, just before I got an HP-35. Great thing with the HP - you didn't have to worry about the powers of 10 any more...

And the HP-35 was soon replaced by the HP-45. This was truly the engineering students friend. Amongst the enhancements were buttons for R->P and P->R conversions. Genius...

mclean

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#1541963 26-Apr-2016 09:36

I bought one on TradeMe a couple of years ago just out of nostalgia. Now I use it nearly every day. It gets a good laugh from older people who come into my office (consulting engineer) and it kinda looks good on the desk. But it's more tactile than a calculator and still can't be beaten for quick and nasty fixed-factor multiplication.