Here are two nearly identical images. One of these was used by Sergei Korolyev, the other by Wherner von Braun. Can you tell which is which?
I was born in 1948 and I certainly used a slide rule back in the 60's in high school.
As I remember it I first used electronic desk calculators and minicomputers (HP1000) as an undergraduate in about 1970 or 1971, and bought my first pocket calculator (also HP, RPN (anybody remember that?)) at about the same time. It was quite expensive.
The first PC I used on my job was a Commodore PET in about 1978, and my first private PC, a Microbee Z-80 CP/M machine with 32K memory and a cassette tape recorder as "mass memory" in about 1982.
Time flies!
tty
My experience pretty much mirrors tty's. I still have my Post Versalog 1460. I used it in high school and for a couple of years in college, but the chemistry department eventually purchased a cabinet-sized calculator (can't recall the brand), and we all went wild for it's ability to display our results to a level of precision that far exceeded that of the input data.
When the handheld calculators came out I eventually bought an HP with RPN. I only use HPs with RPN and wouldn't have it any other way. I am such a fan of RPN that I insisted that my children use HPs with RPN as they grew up. They learned to appreciate it's calculation efficiency and the side benefits. Few if any of their friends ever asked to borrow their calculators, people were less likely to steal them, and if some one did steal one, you at least had the satisfaction of knowing they would probably not know how to use it.
As for your first question Doug, I can't tell which is which.
I can't tell the slipsticks apart, either!
In the world of fiction, a high proportion of Robert A Heinlein's classic characters would have sooner walked naked across the surface of Luna than be without their trusty slide rules - and who can forget the Kelly Freas Analog cover for Gordon R Dickson's 'Hilifter', featuring a mangy space pirate boarding a fat treasure vessel, trusty slide rule between his teeth...
I *have* regularly used a slide rule (although specialised in form), and even in fairly recent times, and *yes*, they're still very much in use in an area which ought not to be a surprise. I'd wager that *most* astronauts are very familiar with that particular device. I'd be entirely unsurprised to hear that a few of the specialised variety have made it into space, too... ...and perhaps not just for fun!
Let's see who's first to have that smack on the forehead moment - and then I'll post a scan.
Bob Shaw
FYI -- the top one was Korolyev's, the bottom one was von Braun's. The real point is that you can't easily tell the difference by looking at them -- the science and engineering was the same, followed the same rules, on both sides of the fence.
-the other Doug
While we're on the subject of lack of Cybernetic Foresight among otherwise visionary SF writers, we musn't forget Arthur C. Clarke's "The Sands of Mars" -- in which a reporter onboard one of a regularly scheduled line of Mars-bound ships runs into trouble with his dispatches because the ship's fax machine can't read the carbons from his typewriter properly...
HP with RPN and sliderules, what a nostalgia trip!
I used slipsticks ("linear" and circular) in college 35-ish years ago, and as late as 20 years ago kept in practice with using the sliderule. Heck, my intro computer course spoke Fortran with data input on Hollerith cards.
And all that was state-of-the-art.
--Bill
What's a slide rule? Just kidding, but in all seriousness while I have seen photos of them I have never actually held one used for engineering/navigation in my hands (I had to add that qualifier because my father collects and uses antique carpenters' tools and has a couple that were once used for figuring scales and angles and such), much less learn how to use it. I did, of course, do lots of timed tests of arithmetic in my childhood; but several years ago I was teaching fifth grade science at a reasonably good school and was astonished and disgusted to discover that none of the kids could multiply or divide by ten without a calculator. (For you non-Americans, fifth grade students here are 10 or 11 years old.) Sigh.
--Emily
SF writers prove prophetic again! Remember Asimov's "The Feeling of Power"?
Seriously, this just proves that American education is even more of a scandal than we thought. I already knew that American students weren't being taught silly little things like grammar (MUCH easier to teach them "self-esteem") -- but how can you even use calculators to solve a real-life math problem unless you understand the logical principles underlying mathematical operations, so that you know when and how to apply them? And they can't multiply or divide by TEN without a calculator? Jesus.
I've still got my slide rule. Though once the calculator age, I usually used it mostly as a log ruler for making quick and dirty graphs without log graph paper.
I've also got at least one of the BAMBOO slide rules my brothers had in high school. Dense, solid, oddly slippery, and very stable mechanically. A most interesting material.
A neat curiosity I have is my first Calculator. A Melcor 1000 (I think.. have to dig deep in a drawer to find it)... the first $99 full-function scientific calculator from 1975, advertized in Scientific American (mail order only)
It's probably the only calculator that was ever advertized and sold as having a defective main chip!
It literally comes with an errata-slip that explains that the Cosine of zero is not zero but is actually one.
Apparently, somebody, I presume TI, since it's not a reverse-polish-notation calculator, made up a whole batch of very very very slightly defective calculator chips and somebody else was willing to use them in a commerical product!
Well, I recall using a slide rule a few times.
In High School, probably my Junior year, I purchased a Commodore SR-1400 (IIRC).
It broke and it was repaired (!) under warranty. I took the back off and they had replaced a couple of chips in it. Can you imagine trying to repair a calculator these days?
I also recall using a key punch around 1975.
Those computer cards seem as primitive as counting with sticks now days.
I have a 25 year old (~) HP-41CX that still works and sees use. I do not have anywhere near the skills with it as I used to.
I never actually used a key punch, but the first mainframe I worked with (an IBM 7074) used Hollerith cards, and I've written untold thousands of 80-character lines for punching by some other poor devil.
I fully agree with Bruce, I can't understand how anyone can use a calculator without enough mental arithmetic to at least understand what he is doing, and noticing if the result is completely wrong, but maybe the younger generation never punches the wrong key...
tty
I have used slide rules and card punches briefly. Don't miss them at all.
I still use my HP RPN calculator. Some of these fetch very high prices on Ebay. E.g., an HP-42S in mint condition goes for over $300. The original retail price was $120. HP still makes RPN calculators, but they don't have the solid feel of some of the older models.
It's not just US education that has a problem with numeracy - so too does the UK. I think, though, that there were always many people who were barely numerate, but that they were forced to learn simple skills by both school and their environment. These days calculators are ubiquitous, and when they are not to hand even educated folk crumble...
In the UK we suffer from Value Added Tax at 17.5%, which I generally work out in my head if I need to get a general idea of a real price (many of the goods I purchase are priced ex-VAT). I shudder whenever somebody reaches for a caculator, especially when I've got the cash already in my hand. As for making change...
I may have to move to Yorkshire at this rate. Luxury, that's what it'd be, bloody luxury...
Bob Shaw
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