Hey Young 'uns. Do schools still teach logarithms or slide rule usage?

[HappyPuppy]

Reason I ask is because I just saw a thread relating to graphing calculators and Algebra II.

This is showing my age, but when I took geometry, trig, algebra and calculus we used slide rules and log books. The smallest electronic calculator at that time filled an air conditioned warehouse, it was the IBM Enivac or Univac or something like that. Transistor technology was still in its infancy.

I am curious, though, if slide rules and logarithmic functions are still taught in lower or higher institutions of education.

 

[gopunk]

logs are, but they don't use slide rules or log books, as calcs are a little more efficient. slide rules and log tables (at least in my school) were sort of like a historical footnote, like "back in my day, we used this". then they'd go into how to use it, just for fun.

 

[Pooteh]

yup the only time slide rules show up is when old teachers want to show u a bit of history


why use sliderules when u can use a calculator that can play games?

 

[ObiDon]

I used an abacus in school! None of those newfangled slide rulers.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Yeah, I understand that calculators are a helluva lot faster and efficient.

It's interesting how things evolve. In "my day" if you were good with a slide rule you could kick ass on all sorts of problems. If you weren't, you had to muddle through dozens of equations of paper to get the solution.

I had some math classes where they wouldn't allow slide rules for tests because they thought it made the problems too easy. Geez, with todays calculators you can punch in the parameters and have the answer in less than a second.

 

[Evadman]

I would love to learn how to use a slide rule just for fun. Anyone know where I can pick one up?

 

[johnjohn320]

Logarithms are covered-but slide rule usage was only a brief side note and was never tested or anything.

 

[skriefal]

My algrebra, geometry, and trig classes were 13-15 years ago... and we never even saw a slide rule, much less used one. Calculators already ruled the day. But even though calculators were available to us, we still had to know how to work most problems without one... and the tests often involved explaining each step of the solution to prove that we knew how to apply the solution without a calculator telling us what to do.

Now, however, it seems that most current math classes are little more than instruction on how to use a calculator. Many younger people seem to have trouble even adding or subtracting whole numbers or multiplying two small numbers without pulling out a calculator...

 

[Noriaki]

No and No...

Yes they teach logarithms, but I'm guessing that you are referring to log tables or log books. They don't use those.

If you want to know the log of something you whip out your calculator and hit log (x) or ln (x) (base 10 and base e respectively).

Most people have at least heard of Slide Rules, but I know plenty of people that probably don't even know what Log Tables are.

 

[Squisher]

We used slide rules a lot in Junior High and High School, but by the time I got to college calculators ruled the day. I graduated from HS in '75.