Slide Rule - Back in Time

I’m dating myself here, but this slide rule was mine. When I started high school, calculators existed… they were just expensive, limited, and not accepted in exams. Slide rules, though, were permitted, so this thing went everywhere with me until scientific calculators finally came within reach.

For anyone who’s never used one: slide rules were the backbone of science and engineering before the mid-70s. Bridges, buildings, aircraft, early computers, nuclear physics, even the Saturn V and the Apollo moon landing… all worked out on these.

I found mine in a closet recently and just for fun I’ve been refreshing my memory on how to use it. Nothing like jumping in the deep end with relativity’s geodesic deviation equation… time dilation is next. Slow going, but it’s coming back. At this rate I’ll have Einstein figured out right around the time I leave the slide rule in the refrigerator and can’t remember why.

Fujifilm XT20 with 7Artisans 60mm Macro

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