RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] beginner slide rule wanted

["Matthew Ross" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> I suppose it is possible for some people to compute more 
> quickly using a
> slide rule than using an electronic calculator.  It might 
> also be possible
> for some people to do addition quicker using an abacus than using a
> numeric keypad.  It certainly isn't true for most people 
> though.  That's
> why Jon King is finding it hard to find a slide rule -- they are
> practically extinct and justifiably so!

There are noted instances of both. Its rather obvious that if you can do it in your head well, you can often outpace those who have to type it into a calculator. The advantage of the slide rule is not that its a time saver over the calculator, but that it forces the user to learn his basic math better. The slide rule is good for making faster mathematicians. If you are good with a slide rule, you should be just as good with a calculator, but most of the people that good with a slide rule these days are too nostalgic about it to give up their slide ruling ways.

The reason they are intimidating is that they harken back to the days when you actually had to think about math, and nothing scares the general public more than being forced to think.

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