I'm aware that some of the older forum members look at these threads to offer advice to beginners, so I felt this might be a good place to begin a discussion of this topic. Dave's recent mailbag video addressed a hybrid analog/digital calculator, made by the German company Faber-Castell in the 1970's. Those with an interest in following this thread might take a look at that video first.
The slide rule, a mechanical parallel computer, antedated the common use of the handheld electric calculator. Before the advent of the calculator, slide rules were used as a check on mental/pencil/paper calculations.
In my self-study of electronics, I started as many have, using the most recent available technology. Modern computer simulations of circuits and inexpensive chipsets in multimeters, as just a couple of examples, have mainly replaced the older tools used by previous generations of engineers to develop their understanding of circuit theory and operation.
After a lot of self searching about how I wanted to master the basics, I created a second "caveman" lab, mainly using older, used, analog equipment and supporting texts to try to recreate the electronics learning experience of the early 1970's in the United States. My main tools are an analog VOM, a CRO, a slide rule, compass, protractor, triangles, and prodigious amounts of graph paper to document my understanding as I go.
One of the most interesting aspects of the "old way" of learning the basics was the emphasis on estimation of mathematical solutions to real world problems. Before digital technology was everywhere, engineers often "overbuilt" their bridges, buildings and equipment as a result of having to make quick design decisions using approximations of formulae without the precision and accuracy that modern computing has made ubiquitous now. Erring on the side of caution produced thicker walls, safer distances, and larger workable tolerances. The relatively "hamfisted" approach also produced some gargantuan design mistakes, of course, but I'm not mainly interested in the discussion of the obvious, glaring limitations of these tools on their operators.
Cleveland Institute of Electronics (among many others) offered electronics courses designed around the use of the slide rule as a computing instrument. As the digital versions of calculators, multimeters, and even oscilloscopes replaced their analog counterparts in the workplace lab and field, the older tools were not-so-gradually phased out of the educational environment as well.
My questions to those of you with the background, education, and/or work experience in the use of the slide rule (worldwide, not just in the US) are these:
1. Which slide rule (manufacturer, model) did/do you use, and why? Did you select it yourself based on application, or was it chosen/required by the school, academy, or military branch?
2. Which texts did you use in concert with this tool during your education?
3. What things do you still occasionally use them for, if at all? If you use them regularly, is it merely out of habit or are there certain calculations for which you prefer them to having to punch buttons on a digital calculator?
4. What benefits do you feel you may have gained from learning how to use them?
Any and all replies would be greatly appreciated, as I'm trying to keep detailed notes on my own progress and would like to hear how others may have fared in similar, although less-self-imposed, surroundings.