It is very easy to add and subtract by sliding two rulers against one another, so if you use rules whose scales are logarithmic instead of linear, you can multiply and divide without all of the tedious calculation, as long as you’re satisfied with the accuracy you can read off the scale. Logarithms, invented in the 17th century, allow reducing multiplication to addition and division to subtraction.
The mathematical magic behind the slide rule is logarithms. See Theoretical Knowledge Vs Practical Application. This page introduces you to the slide rule which use the mathematical magic of logarithms (Mathematical Mysteries). Mine is a beauty – a K&E 20-inch Log-log Duplex Decitrig” Have Space Suit – Will Travel, 1958. “Dad says that anyone who can’t use a slide rule is a cultural illiterate and should not be allowed to vote. Until the invention of the pocket calculator in the 1960s, the slide rule was used by virtually every scientist and mathematician in the world. In the mid- 1600s, the linear slide rule was invented by Reverend William Oughtred, and the inner slide rule was invented by Robert Bissaker. By sliding various components of the ruler to align with one another, a slide rule can compute products, roots, logarithms, and the result of trigonometric functions.
1Ī slide rule, also known as a slide ruler or a slipstick, is an extremely complex ruler that functions as an analog computer. The introduction of the handheld electronic scientific calculator around 1974 made them largely obsolete and most suppliers left the business. Before the advent of the electronic calculator, it was the most commonly used calculation tool in science and engineering. The slide rule’s ease of use, ready availability, and low cost caused its use to continue to grow through the 1950s and 1960s even as computers were being gradually introduced. The Reverend William Oughtred and others developed the slide rule in the 17th century based on the emerging work on logarithms by John Napier. As the rulers each have a logarithmic scale, it is possible to align them to read the sum of the numbers’ logarithms, and hence calculate the product of the two numbers. Maximum accuracy for standard linear slide rules was about three decimal digits.Īt its simplest, each number to be multiplied is represented by a length on a pair of connected rulers that can slide past each other.
They are not designed for addition or subtraction which was usually performed manually, with scientific notation used to keep track of the magnitude of results. The slide rule is a mechanical analog computer. The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division and for functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry.
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