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Over 50's club

11 lurkers | 326 watchers

GlennR Aug 2021 7:39pm, 10 Aug 2021 58,174 posts	Quote Pin GlennR Well I learned them and also used a slide rule, although didn't find them very challenging. IMO calculators were more of a new way of doing traditional multiplication and division rather than the sort of stuff you use logs for.
Rosehip Aug 2021 7:44pm, 10 Aug 2021 22,067 posts	Quote Pin Rosehip Slide rule used here too and log tables - I found them easier to understand than the weird techniques they teach multiplication and division to primary/junior kids these days
um Aug 2021 7:45pm, 10 Aug 2021 5,019 posts	Quote Pin um As per GlennR - I think we did logs in the second year, but not really used for arithmetic. Possibly in physics & when powers were being used. I also had a slide rule (engineer for a father!), but rarely, if ever, used it. Mostly used paper & pen for 'arithmetical' multiplication & division until calculators in 70s at uni.
Dvorak Aug 2021 7:50pm, 10 Aug 2021 23,084 posts	Quote Pin Dvorak Learned logs, can't remember why. Pen and paper! I just did it in my head
Velociraptor Aug 2021 7:52pm, 10 Aug 2021 53,753 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor Also learned and forgotten all that stuff.
Eynsham Red Aug 2021 7:57pm, 10 Aug 2021 7,842 posts	Quote Pin Eynsham Red Slide rule and log tables here too. Logs were useful for calculations in electrical and radio theory.
GregP Aug 2021 8:19pm, 10 Aug 2021 128,585 posts	Quote Pin GregP Another one here (father was a draughtsman for the local bearing company. Loved his logs and slide rule and tech drawing kit in general. A trait I’ve happily inherited)
12barDavid Aug 2021 8:20pm, 10 Aug 2021 5,267 posts	Quote Pin 12barDavid Well said ER. I was taught how to use a slide rule & logs at school & it came in handy when I was doing my Electrical Engineering Apprenticeship. The other thing that came in handy that we were taught at school was trigonometry. I had to use cosines, tangents etc when working on milling machines.
jabberknit Aug 2021 8:22pm, 10 Aug 2021 4,028 posts	Quote Pin jabberknit I learned stuff about logarithms, didn't understand any of it, and have never used or needed it.
Dvorak Aug 2021 8:32pm, 10 Aug 2021 23,085 posts	Quote Pin Dvorak The bones of Napier nms.ac.uk (Scottish, of course.) Did anyone else learn an abacus?