Did You Know
Slide Rule Interesting Facts
- The slide rule was invented around 1620 - 1630.
- Many people still use slide rules to this day, with a little practice you can perform calculations to a reasonable estimate very quickly.
- The military in many countries still teach slide rules as a backup in case of calculator malfunction
- Slide rules have even been used by astronauts. They have been used on 5 of the Apollo space missions.
- Some people belive the advent of electronic forms of calculation to have tainted the art of engineering. eg. When computers were first introduced new engineers went to them to solve problems that experienced engineers could solve quickly with a few quick uses of a slide rule. In fact several computer centers at the time had a framed slide rule hanging on the wall with the message "In case of emergency, break glass".
- Many people like to use a slide rule as a check to make sure they have calculated correctly on a calculator or computer. The slide rule will only be an estimate (though normally quite a close one) and will have to be done slightly differently, minimising the chances of duplicating mistakes.
Before electronic hand held calculators, the slide rule was widely used in Engineering, Science and Commerce for rapidly performing calculations involving multiplication and division which have to be accurate to not more than three or four decimal places. It can also be used for such operations as involution (raising to a power) and evolution (extraction of a root) and for calculations with trigonometric functions (sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent).
The interactive slide rule on this site allows people to understand how this tool was used.
To experience an Interactive Slide Rule hit the Virtual Slide Rule tab (above) and you will find an Interactive Slide Rule complete with instructions detailing the reading of the slide rule. There is also a brief history of the invention of the slide rule.
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Saturday 7 November, 2009 12:07 AM |
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Did you know trivia - Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said on Tuesday that a 4,300-year-old pyramid was discovered recently in a southern district of Cairo. |
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Friday 14 November, 2008 05:08 AM |
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Did you know Trivia - A biomass heating system is at the heart of plans for a new campus building at Stourbridge College in the West Midlands.
Mott MacDonald has been appointed to provide engineering services at the new four storey building set to be located in a prominent position near Merry Hill Shopping Centre in Brierley Hill. |
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Wednesday 29 October, 2008 02:46 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - A British team has launched its attempt to hold on to the world land speed record with a car that could reach 1,000mph.
The Bloodhound Project aims to smash the existing top speed of 763mph set by Wing Commander Andy Green in 1997.
The same team now hopes to raise the bar and keep the record in UK hands - as it has been for 25 years. |
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Friday 24 October, 2008 09:33 AM |
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Did you know Trivia - In the western world and Japan, the population is aging, meaning among other things that the drivers are getting older. One problem-a lot of the engineers designing new cars are not "older" and they have no practical frame of reference what it is like trying to drive then. Enter the aging suit, a device developed by Nissan that they make young engineers put on that simulates everything from arthritis to cataracts to a more..ample....middle, so that they can have some idea on the real world implications of their designs. |
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Thursday 16 October, 2008 05:10 PM |
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Did You Know Trivia - After making successful inroads into states like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, TVS Motor Company, on 9th October'08, has launched its 'TVS King' autorickshaw in Gujarat, but this time with the CNG version. India's third largest bikemaker had earlier forayed into the three-wheeler market in the country with the LPG and petrol versions of the aforesaid model in a number of states. TVS King comes with 200cc two-stroke low friction engine, electric start or hand start, twin headlamps, futuristic design with combination of power mileage, as claimed by sources.
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Monday 13 October, 2008 05:23 AM |
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Did You Know Trivia - Fried foods are not usually considered healthy, but a Purdue professor's invention could reduce their fat content with an inventive cooking method.
Kevin Keener, an associate professor in the department of food sciences, is working on the development of a radiant oven. The oven, also referred to as a radiant fryer, eliminates excess calories and fat by taking the place of the oil bath fried foods typically receive.
"The foods that you traditionally would find in fast food restaurants are already cooked once in a factory," said Keener. "At the restaurant, they want it already cooked and they throw it in the hot oil basically to recreate that finished product that they have at the factory."
The new technology replaces the second frying, which Keener says would cut in half the amount of oil used.
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Sunday 12 October, 2008 05:18 PM |
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Did You Know Trivia - The race is on, so to speak, with a number of countries and companies recently announcing their plans for the next-generation of high-speed rail travel. While France set the railroad world speed record in 2007 at 575 km/h (357 mph), Japan and most western European countries have set their revenue speed limit at 300 km/h, or around 186 mph. It looks like eager train-travelers (and possibly former air travelers) will soon be traveling a good deal faster in almost any of the above-mentioned countries. Read on for details on some of Japan, China and France's high-speed ambitions. |
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Friday 3 October, 2008 02:21 AM |
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Did You Know Trivia - A three-day festival gave more than 200 rocketry enthusiasts an opportunity to push the boundaries of explosive propulsion in the hands of private citizens this weekend on the Black Rock Desert.
Forget bottle rockets. Aeronautic devotees arrived from as far away as Australia and the United Kingdom to launch experimental rockets often 16 times larger than a common hobby rocket at the 17th annual Tripoli Rocketry Association National Experimental Launch Friday through Sunday.
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Tuesday 30 September, 2008 07:25 AM |
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Did You Know Trivia - When Pedro Rodriguez goes for a jog, don't blame him if he feels a little like a guinea pig in some kind of space-age science experiment.
As high-speed cameras take high-definition video images of him running, sensors attached to his legs detect what his knees and thigh muscles are doing. Another one near his heel sends messages to a computer about what's going on with his calf and foot muscles.
At the same time, a pad in the bottom of his sneaker records the temperature inside the shoe and keeps track of the amount of pressure he exerts on the soles of his feet. |
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Monday 29 September, 2008 09:45 AM |
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Did You Know Trivia - Mrs Sheila Dixit, the chief minister of Delhi will launch the ‘soleckshaw’, a vehicle driven by solar power on 2 October in the National Capital. The vehicle has been designed by scientists of Durgapur-based Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, a CSIR organisation.
Four such soleckshaws have already been transported to New Delhi.
Dr Amitava Roy, director, CMERI said: “Soleckshaws can be described as an efficient pedal powered, motor-assisted three wheeler that is expected to find good utility in downtown urban transportation and freight.”
Dr Gopal P Sinha, former director CMERI, who first proposed the idea visited CMERI at the CSIR foundation day celebrations today. He said: "The vehicle will be highly useful in congested cities like Delhi where the pollution level is rising every day.” He added that the vehicle has been designed keeping in mind cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.
The recent hike in fuel price has forced the scientists to design vehicles that are eco-friendly, at the same time powerful and can be used for daily urban transportation. |
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Monday 29 September, 2008 02:44 AM |
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Did you know Trivia - The Technical and Engineering Services Exports Organization of Iran (TESEOI) plans to export $2.5 billion worth of services during the current Iranian calendar year (ends March 20, 2009), TESEOI Director Mohammad-Hassan Mehdipur said on Saturday in Almaty.
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Monday 22 September, 2008 01:53 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - Soapbox derbies attract scores of loyal, serious competitors who appreciate gravity, engineering and the art of making things go fast. The Red Bull Soapbox Derby is in a bit of a different class.
The four-race event this fall is still based on speed, but competitors also score points for creativity and showmanship. It kicks off Sept. 6 with a race in Philadelphia, followed by October races in Cincinnati, San Francisco and Denver.
click this link to read more |
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Friday 27 June, 2008 10:18 AM |
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Did you know Trivia - Singapore's industrial production in May slumped by a much-bigger-than-expected 12.8 percent from a year ago, pulled down by a 55.1 percent drop in biomedical output, the government said on Thursday.
Analysts had projected a fall of 2.5 percent for May.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, industrial output last month fell 5.7 percent from April, the Economic Development Board (EDB) said in its monthly report.
click this link to read more
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Thursday 26 June, 2008 05:55 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - A car given by Adolf Hitler to the king of Nepal is headed to a museum.
Hitler gave the 1939 Mercedes to King Tribhuvan, grandfather of just-ousted King Gyanendra. A special assembly voted to abolish the monarchy last month.
In recent years, the car has been at an engineering college in Katmandu, which was using it to train mechanics. The school doesn't have the money or parts to restore the vehicle.
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Thursday 26 June, 2008 01:56 AM |
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Did you know Trivia - Constructed by the Electrical Engineering department in a Manchester University laboratory in 1948, "Baby", officially known as the Small Scale Experimental Machine and sometimes referred to as the Mark I prototype, was the first computer, with only 128 bytes of memory, that allowed programs to be electronically stored. It was preceded by the top-secret Colossus machines used at Bletchley Park for decoding German signals during the second world war. The Colossus, originally constructed by Tommy Flowers and a team at a Post Office laboratory in Dollis Hill, London, was a pre-programmed machine, hard wired to solve only a small set of specific tasks. After the war the Colossus machines were broken up and buried on the orders of the then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. click this link to read more |
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Tuesday 24 June, 2008 01:49 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, a semiconductor packaging and test company, announced that it has provided CSR with the subcontractor assembly services that facilitated the shipment of its first one billion Bluetooth devices.
click this link to read more |
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Sunday 22 June, 2008 11:10 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - A new type of solar energy collector made from inexpensive aluminum tubing and mirror strips can concentrate sunlight by a factor of 1,000 to melt steel or produce steam. click this link to read more |
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Sunday 22 June, 2008 05:05 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - On Monday of this week the FCX Clarity - Honda's hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicle - came off the line at the world's first dedicated fuel cell vehicle manufacturing facility in Japan. After 19 years of development, the arrival of this 'real world' fuel cell car marks the beginning of a new era of cleaner motoring. click this link to read more |
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Friday 20 June, 2008 05:25 PM |
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Did you know Trivia - Technip has been awarded a lumpsum installation contract by Callon Petroleum Company for the Entrada oil field development in the Gulf of Mexico.
click this link to read more |
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Friday 20 June, 2008 03:15 AM |
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Did you know Trivia - Shinano Kenshi Corporation (SKC-North America), a leading Los Angeles, CA-based manufacturer of electronic motors for the automotive, medical, office, and computer peripheral markets, has announced the relocation of the company's headquarters to a 10,000 square-foot facility located in the lower west side of Los Angeles, an area that is burgeoning with other high tech companies that specialize in technology, manufacturing and software. Shinano's $4M purchase of a building located at 6065 Bristol Parkway in Culver City, CA is part of the company's continued expansion of its U.S.-based sales, technology, manufacturing and service operations.
click this link to read more |
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Thursday 19 June, 2008 01:07 PM |
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