Those were the days when we had Test card TV for most of the day.... and the only choice was BBC1,2 and ITV until 11.30 when we all had to stand ready to hear the national anthem at the end of the night.
I remember having a challenge in the office, on an engineering calculation; my slide rule beat the calculator hands down; it still will, I am sure, because of the time it takes to input the figures on the keypad. In fact I used Log Tables well after the calculator appeared.
What it comes down to is the fact that we had to work for the answers, it took a lot of thinking processes; the answers are now too easy..... Use it Or Lose It. The holds very true in a lot of fields (and in the house!).
It wasn t until I went to Mounts Bay and met Mr. Fisher that I got the hang of slide rule and log tables, from then on I could nt get enought of it. I d be lost now.
@treeve this contest is national in China. They take the slide rule very seriously and hold competitions against calculators yearly.... so far the slide rule has won each time as far as I know.
@welb1931 in a funny twisted sort of way... the internet is fast becoming that very same ball point pen.... expect it loaded duh
The key factor though is to know roughly what figure to aim at. That is where my father came in, taught me what was known as RAF maths, a method of guesstimating so it was obvious when the final answer came out that it was right - try that in the average shop now; I have had some arguments over the register total before now. Machines will only do what they are told, if the answer is wrong - it is down to human error.
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