slipping sticks

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Fri Feb 6 13:26:17 1998

At 02:59 PM 2/6/98 GMT, you wrote:
>>>No, I do not have _my_ high school/college slide rule, which was a
>>>magnificent 12" yellow aluminum Pickett with a hard leather case and a
belt
>>>loop. ...
>
>Nice! Why have I never seen an aluminium slide rule?
>
>Also, for the benefit of us non-Americans, what approximate age is "high
>school"?

  OOPs, hit the send button too soon. High school is usually 9 through 12
grade in the US. Roughly 14 to 19 years of age depending on where your
birthday falls in the school year.

>
>At school slide rules were the only permitted calculating machines in
>maths classes up to age 16 in my day (academic year 1982-83)
>(requirement was dropped a couple of years later). I went through a
>series of cheap plastic ones and ended up with an expensive plastic one
>- I asked the local stationers for a replacement cursor and they sold me
>this really nice slide rule for the same price (one pound) just to get
>rid of it! This too has lost its cursor, tho' I believe I still have
>the rule somewhere.
>
>More recently I bought a decent wooden one for a similar price at a car
>boot sale - still in box with plate glass cursor. I also have a special
>purpose cardboard one with two slides that is meant to calculate the
>flow of water through pipes of various sizes, materials and gradients.
>
   Yes, there were lots of specialized rules made. Aircraft naviagation
rules are common.

>>>700+ units. Me, I have 30, including a 7 foot long Pickett classroom
rule.
>
>Wow! On a 7 foot rule you should be able to get four sig. figs without
>too much interpolation anywhere along the length. Or are the markings
>too coarse for that?

   Usually these were made for class room use and have course gradualtions
so that they can be seen from a distance. Normally the have the same
number of graduations as a standard 6, 8 or12 inch rule just further apart.
>
>Philip.
>
>
Received on Fri Feb 06 1998 - 13:26:17 GMT