--- In slideruleforum@yahoogroups.com, "br2hughes" <br2hughes@...>
wrote:
>
> People,
>
> I have recently taken an enormous interest in slide rules. > main
question(s): Does anyone know if I am alone in my slide rule...
> ..... or must I be the sole person to ensure
> that future generations don't lose sight of this wonderful instrument?
>
> I am very curious to here about any responses.
>
> Brandon Hughes
> br2hughes@...
>
Brandon:

You are a rare bird, but not alone. I have a student here at a
technical university in Finland who uses a slide rule. I was the one
who interested him in them and taught him the use of it.

I too am a newcomer to the group, but I am nearly three times your age
(!!!). I was attracted to the group by the words "utilitarian BEAUTY of
the slide rule". I am not really a collector, but more or less run a
home for orphan slide rules.

My concern with them these days is with their beauty. Not just as
objects (although many are beautiful) but with the mathematical beauty
of the things. One of my passtimes is to make an arbitrary setting and
them work out all the possible implications of that setting. (It is
possible to find a large number of + and - powers of numbers without
using LL scales.)

I would really advocate returning the use slide rules in schools. If
one really understands WHY a slide rule works, you have a conceptual
edge on others in understanding how the number system works (Why are
negative exponents defined the way they are? Meditation on a slide rule
will tell you on a deep level.)

What kind of rule(s) do you use? The queen of my modest collection is a
classic Hemmi 260 that I bought in 1960.

Leo