On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:39:14 +0100, Mike McMillan
 wrote:

>In message <1khS$VgtLFVIFwHH@virgin.net>, Jenny M Benson 
> writes
>>In message <VrX4k.9495$E41.694@text.news.virginmedia.com>, the Omrud 
>> writes
>>>>  I'm sure I've got my slide-rule & 5 figure log tables around here 
>>>>somewhere.
>>>
>>>What a strange thing to say.  Doesn't everybody?
>>
>>I never had a slide rule and have no idea how to use one, but for some 
>>time in my youth I hankered after one.  They looked really exciting and 
>>I liked Maths.  (When we learned logs I went home and played school 
>>with my sister who is 3 years my junior and taught them to her!)
>
>I have a small slide rule hereabouts somewhere, can't find my 4 figure 
>log tables (think I may have dispensed with such approximate 
>calculations in favour of my copy of:
>
>Chambers's (that what it says on the cover) Seven Figure Mathematical 
>Tables, Edited by James Pryde, Full Edition, purchased March 1969 for 
>15/- (I bought this book when I was studying 'O' level mathematics by 
>Wolsely Hall correspondence course.)
>
>Toodle Pip,
>
>Mike
I actually have a friend who collects slide rules.  One of his is
round.  He loves explaining about how they work but I am not sure what
I recall.   I know my dad had one too.  The friend is also something
important in Meccano circles :).

badriya wrote:
> On Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:39:14 +0100, Mike McMillan
>  wrote:
> 
>> In message <1khS$VgtLFVIFwHH@virgin.net>, Jenny M Benson 
>>  writes
>>> In message <VrX4k.9495$E41.694@text.news.virginmedia.com>, the Omrud 
>>>  writes
>>>>>  I'm sure I've got my slide-rule & 5 figure log tables around here 
>>>>> somewhere.
>>>> What a strange thing to say.  Doesn't everybody?
>>> I never had a slide rule and have no idea how to use one, but for some 
>>> time in my youth I hankered after one.  They looked really exciting and 
>>> I liked Maths.  (When we learned logs I went home and played school 
>>> with my sister who is 3 years my junior and taught them to her!)
>> I have a small slide rule hereabouts somewhere, can't find my 4 figure 
>> log tables (think I may have dispensed with such approximate 
>> calculations in favour of my copy of:
>>
>> Chambers's (that what it says on the cover) Seven Figure Mathematical 
>> Tables, Edited by James Pryde, Full Edition, purchased March 1969 for 
>> 15/- (I bought this book when I was studying 'O' level mathematics by 
>> Wolsely Hall correspondence course.)
>>
> I actually have a friend who collects slide rules.  One of his is
> round.  He loves explaining about how they work but I am not sure what
> I recall.   I know my dad had one too.  The friend is also something
> important in Meccano circles :).

I love that "actually", which makes it sound so strange.  I also have a 
small collection, perhaps a dozen, including my dad's cylindrical slide 
rule from when he started as a draftsman in about 1945 and my 
grandfather's slide rule from much earlier - that one has ivory scales.

-- 
David

the Omrud  writes:
>badriya wrote:
>> I actually have a friend who collects slide rules.  One of his is
>> round.  He loves explaining about how they work but I am not sure what
>> I recall.   I know my dad had one too.  The friend is also something
>> important in Meccano circles :).
>
>I love that "actually", which makes it sound so strange.  I also have a 
>small collection, perhaps a dozen, including my dad's cylindrical slide 
>rule from when he started as a draftsman in about 1945 and my 
>grandfather's slide rule from much earlier - that one has ivory scales.

i also rather enjoyed the suggestion one could be in a meccano circle.
my recollection is that one couldn't _do_ a circle in meccano: the
"little bits of circle" pieces wouldn't make a whole circle.

my slide rule is a rare example of me surveying the field and deciding
on a particular model ... that turned out to be a good choice.  i
never regretted buying it, and to this day its motion is good and
smooth.  (it would have been bought in the early 60s.)

(i seem to have become better at choosing women, in recent past.
indeed, i regret little about my previous marriage, other than the
ending of it.)
-- 
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge