[This post disappeared from the SDF bboard for some reason, so I'm
posting it here]
When I was in high school (80's) TI handheld calculators were just
starting to be used regularly in math and science classes. But I had
a soft-spot for slide rules, as my grandfather taught me to use one
when I was 11. He was a civil engineer, and still used them
regularly. When I was a bit older he gave me his prized possession,
a post-versalog with the bamboo slides and instruction manual (back
when instruction manuals were actually hardcover, cloth-bound
books). The quality was amazing. Apparently, the more you use the
bamboo slides, the smoother the action gets, a property of the
natural oils in the bamboo.
I still have that instruction manual, although the original slide
rule was lost in a fire. A couple of years ago, I got nostalgic and
bought an identical model on ebay for about $20. They are fun to
use, if not practical nowadays, and do teach logarithmic principles
in a nice, visual way.
