The Slide Rule

I thought technology was moving fast when I was in college since the calculator I used in Engineering classes was obsolete by the time I graduated. Today, last years technology is often obsolete. My iPad 2 is phenomenal, but it is already outdated. Here’s a short story about the calculator I used in college.

The Slide Rule

 

When I was in college all of the Engineering Students carried a slide rule. This was our calculator and our computer of the early 1960s. Some of the early versions of the Texas Instruments calculators had come out, but the college professors would not allow them in the class room on test days. How then did we complete the complex logarithm and trigonometric calculations. We used our Deitzen or Post Log Log Deci Trig slide rule. The only computer on campus took up a whole building and we had to punch large card decks to program them.

 

You could make any calculation necessary with the slide rule with the answer good to about three decimal points. We guarded the slide rule like today’s students guard the lap tops and work pads. To get ready for a test, I took the slide out and cleaned the slide areas. Then I lubricated it with talcum powder. During the test, often we could only take our slide rule and pencils into the test room with us. The slide rule got the job done, but it was slow slow slow.

 

Engineering students using a slide rule for exam calculations.

 

 

By the time I graduated from college, the slide rule was already obsolete dark ages type technology. I never used one in my job. I think the universities realized this and started allowing students to use the latest tools available in school so they would be more prepared for their jobs.

 

Technology today is so much better.. With the internet answers to almost any question available instantly, I wonder how the professors control the use of smart phones in the classroom. I still have the slide rule I used in college, most young people don’t even know what it is.

 

The Slide Rule used by engineering students if the early 1960’s for all engineering calculations.

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Thanks for reading The Slide Rule,

Bill