[noise] Re: Sliderules, Logs, and Prodigies

[Sean Roach <roach_s@alph.swosu.edu>]

Peter Trei wrote:
>
>When I was in high school, slide rules and log tables were standard
>equipment - calculators started to come in towards the end. There
>was a *lot* of controversy over their use in exams, and in homework
>('show your working...'). At one point, you could use a calculator, but
>only if you noted the fact (and model) on your exam paper.

If I remember my history right, the order that math was done often depended
on the model of calculator it was done on.  I remember being warned as late
as 1991 how some calculators may still still add before they multiply, and
to use those parenthesis for good measure, just to be safe.

>I still treasure one of the heirlooms from my grandfather - a 12
>inch bamboo rule, with his name carefully engraved in engineering
>lettering ( which he used during his 50+ years at Ma Bell).

I know where there used to be a basic model slide rule that spans about 10
feet, it was mounted on the wall of the math room where I spent junior high.
My dad actually taught me basic arithemetic on it.  (Ironically, on the
opposite wall were the computers, an Apple IIe, a Commodore 64, two
TI99/4a's and about 4 Tandy 1000/tx's, this did all take place before 1989)

Sean Roach