# From the era of the slide rule to the digital age



## Juan Manuel Arcos Frank (Dec 12, 2009)

Great Heavens!!!!!!....Do you remember when we use the slide rule?...well,take a look at this article from AIChE....I am getting old.

Regards

Manuel


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 12, 2009)

I sure do. I still have a big wide 10" K&E Deci-Lon, with lots of scales. Every so often, I break it out and do some stuff with it. Seventh picture down.
http://www.gizmology.net/sliderules_ke.htm 

I even taught a slide rule course in the Air Force, using a huge hanging, working slide rule about 5 feet long and a foot wide for demonstration purposes. 

Three digits is enough accuracy for most stuff.


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## Shaul (Dec 19, 2009)

Ahhh, for the days of the slide rule..(sigh)

Nostalgia.

I even have a round one sitting around someplace.

Yet, in those days, who would ever have imagined the stuff we've got now?


Shaul


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## Irons (Dec 19, 2009)

I can remember taking an algebra class where the instructor insisted that students use a slide rule and calculators were banned. I used to wear my new TI 4 function calculator on my belt, so everyone on campus knew I was a Geek.

It's almost laughable. I hated that Math course. :evil:


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## goldsilverpro (Dec 19, 2009)

I also had a TI, 4 function calculator, when they first came out (early to mid 70s?). Must have weighed a couple of pounds. Red LED display. I think they cost $100.


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## Irons (Dec 19, 2009)

goldsilverpro said:


> I also had a TI, 4 function calculator, when they first came out (early to mid 70s?). Must have weighed a couple of pounds. Red LED display. I think they cost $100.



That's the one.

That's when a $100 was worth something. I was in line the first day they came out.


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## Noxx (Dec 19, 2009)

I bought a TI-86 in high school for $120 and the next year I was told in college that it wasn't allowed in there...

After all, it was useful because you could enter all the formulas you had to learn by heart!


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## Harold_V (Dec 20, 2009)

Somewhat off the subject, but my first calculator was just a bit too large to fit in a shirt pocket. Came with a 120 volt power supply, so I didn't have to use batteries. A Rapidman if I recall correctly. Made in Canada, with a 12 column display. I used it in my lab until the day I sold the business. I got it before 1975 as a Christmas gift from my ex-wife (we were married at the time). I seem to recall that it cost right at $200, and was a simple calculator, just four functions. You can buy calculators that are far more capable now, for as little as $3. Only eight columns, though. 

Harold


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## glorycloud (Dec 20, 2009)

I had a TI-56 with the red display in high school and college. After college I went into sales and leasing so I went to an HP 12C. For financial calculations and loans it was the berries and I use it daily. I still get a kick when people ask me to borrow it for a calculation as it doesn't work like your normal calculator does. They always give it back to me with a look of disgust on their faces. :lol:


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## gold4mike (Jan 19, 2010)

The debate went on for well over a year at our high school as to whether or not calculators would be allowed. My grandmother went in half with me when I finally bought my TI SR51A "slide rule calculator" for my freshmen year of college. It's been so long now I doubt that I could solve a problem with my old slide rules, but I have kept two of the for the memories.

Ah the good ole days!


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