Erica, this is for you, as well as for anyone else who wonders if the
slide rule is still worth it. The short answer is YES. My physics
classes and astronomy classes are all using slide rules this year -
calculators are banned in class, lab, and on exams.

I have gone to this method because my students had no number sense -
they had been electronically stupified by black boxes they neither
understood, nor mastered. The calculator was not a tool of man's
intellect, but an oracle of mathematics. Any mathematics instructor
will tell you that 'manipulatives' from blocks and counting sticks to
arrays and physical models of topological surfaces are important for
building mastery of concepts. The slide rule brings mastery to the
student in the same way. The process of working through an equation
is not a typing sequence, but a physical process that impresses itself
upon your conscious and subconscious intellect. Don't give up the
slide rule, by any means.

On the other hand... crunching through statistics is quite a burden
with a slide rule if you are pressed for time. On the other hand,
working calculations like these, repetative though they will seem,
will be the best way to build confidence and speed - skills you need
if you are to walk bravely into the examination hall armed only with
your slide rule instead of an electronic calculator. My classes have
it easy - I've made the choice for them. You have to make it for
yourself. Stick it out - the payoff is worth it.

Lugh