Originally Posted by
onehundred80
Do you figure this all out with the slide rule as shown in your avatar?
Calculations have come a long way since my apprenticeship days, trig tables, logs, slide rule, the Friden that looked and acted like a maniacal typewriter, the **** with the dodgy filament bulbs and punched cards and then the pocket calculators were developed, my favourite being the HP line and the HP 42C in particular. Now we rarely use them if at all in engineering design, it all being done for us and we just measure with the cursor and the dimension just pops up. I spent countless hours on a Friden doing sets of calculations the pocket calculator would do in minutes and the PC basically instantaneously.
The good old days? I do not miss them at all.
The Avatar is the School Logo for where I attended & graduated college - University of Missouri-Rolla. The logo is Joe Miner. School was originally founded as Missouri School of Mines in 1870. And is now called Missouri University of Science & Technology (Missouri S&T). Campus originally was an engineering school, and when the Missouri System snatched it up, it remained primarily an engineering school. (Note: Little known fact - When I attended from 1969-1973, only Purdue graduated more engineers than UMR.) But like all things, one can get a degree from there in just about anything nowadays, which in my opinion, isn't an improvement.)
Anyway, being an engineering campus, the slide rule was the "tool of the trade". And yes, I still know how to use it.
But like you, I'm glad those days are behind me!
Remember back when the HP-line of scientific pocket calculators were available for only $400-$600!! And we thought technology had reached its zenith!! Things were only getting started!!! Hell, our XFires have more technical power nowadays - And they're a 10-year old marque!!!