Yes, yes, I know some of you used one. I probably still have one around here somewhere. But the children have never even seen one, and definitely don't know how to use one...
From Wirecutter at Knuckledraggin' My Life Away: How To Use A Slide Rule (C & D Scales)
Video from the dark ages (1950s) can be found at this link. It is 23 minutes of 1950s government drek, but it is worth sampling.
Produced by the United States Office of Education, this vintage film shows the operation of the slide rule with focus on the 'C' and 'D' Scales.
The slide rule, also known colloquially in the United States as a slipstick, is a mechanical analog computer. As graphical analog calculators, slide rules are closely related to nomograms, but the former are used for general calculations, whereas the latter are used for application-specific computations.
The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry, but typically not for addition or subtraction.
Multiplication and division with a slide rule is based on the rule of logs: the log of a product is the sum of the log of the factors.
This bit of technology allowed us to design the rockets that let us reach the moon in 1969, build automatic transmissions, and in general create most of the stuff that is the foundation for the tech we have today.
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