Terry BoonFeb 22

(New Eclectic Stacks blog post) Hacker News discussion of #sliderules reminded me of the paper cut-out slide rules in the children's book of games and puzzles, "Nut-Crackers" (1971). I revisit some of the other unexpected #maths in that book and realise it was an early book by (with John Jaworski) subsequently prolific mathematician and writer Ian Stewart. And I also discover a modern incarnation of the slide rule: a 3D-printed aid to calculating scores in popular (loosely-)poker-themed game #Balatro

https://www.eclecticstacks.com/post/slide-rules-nut-crackers/

Slide Rules and Nut-Crackers

The discussion “Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?” on Hacker News reminded me of the children’s maths/puzzle book Nut-Crackers (1971) I once had, with cut-out paper slide rule at the back - and set me re-visiting what other mathematical games it had contained.

Eclectic Stacks
ResearchBuzz: FirehoseFeb 21

Hackaday: Sliderule Simulator Teaches You How To Do Calculations The Old Fashioned Way. “Ever wanted to know how engineers made their calculations before digital calculators were on every workbench? [Richard Carpenter] and [Robert Wolf] have just the thing—a sliderule simulator that can teach you how to do a whole bunch of complex calculations the old fashioned way!”

https://rbfirehose.com/2026/02/21/hackaday-sliderule-simulator-teaches-you-how-to-do-calculations-the-old-fashioned-way/
Hackaday: Sliderule Simulator Teaches You How To Do Calculations The Old Fashioned Way

Hackaday: Sliderule Simulator Teaches You How To Do Calculations The Old Fashioned Way. “Ever wanted to know how engineers made their calculations before digital calculators were on every wor…

ResearchBuzz: Firehose
EngineerSailingJan 12

81 year old sailor on next boat started talking slide rulers
So I pulled mine and and we raced calculations

#math #sliderule #sliderules #calculation #oldschool

Inaction FigureNov 27

Happy Thanksgiving, #Fediverse!

#Linux
#StarTrek
#FOSS
#Fedora
#KDE
#SlideRule
#SlideRules
#AmIsraelChai
#Thanksgiving

ResearchBuzz: FirehoseNov 22

Hackaday: How To Use That Slide Rule. “You have that slide rule in the back of the closet. Maybe it was from your college days. Maybe it was your Dad’s. Honestly. Do you know how to use it? Really? All the scales? That’s what we thought. [Amen Zwa, Esq.] not only tells you how slide rules came about, but also how to use many of the common scales.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/22/hackaday-how-to-use-that-slide-rule/

Hackaday: How To Use That Slide Rule | ResearchBuzz: Firehose

ResearchBuzz: Firehose | Individual posts from ResearchBuzz
Show threadInaction FigureNov 21

@xaseiresh @FreeCAD

Those look fantastic! As a fan and collector of slide rules, I am interested to know more!

#SlideRules #SlideRule

N-gated Hacker NewsNov 20
🚨BREAKING: Humanity owes its #survival to slide rules? 🤔🎓 Who knew that waving around a stick with numbers could plant crops and store grains? 🌾 Clearly, if only we had slide rules sooner, we'd all be living in a futuristic utopia by now! 🛸📏
https://amenzwa.github.io/stem/ComputingHistory/HowSlideRulesWork/ #slideRules #agriculture #innovation #futurism #HackerNews #ngated
How Slide Rules Work · Amen Zwa, Esq.

Hacker NewsNov 20

How Slide Rules Work

https://amenzwa.github.io/stem/ComputingHistory/HowSlideRulesWork/

#HackerNews #HowSlideRulesWork #SlideRules #STEM #ComputingHistory #Education

How Slide Rules Work · Amen Zwa, Esq.

ThomasNov 15
I found my father's crib notes engraved in the base of a slide rule. I managed to decipher one of them, an application of the rule of proportion for calculating temperature dependent resistance of metals. The others I really don't understand. I believe that he was never very good at math - he was good at understanding complex things, knew how to make them organizable - a silent leader.
#generations #cheating #parents #sliderules
Show threadInaction FigureOct 3

@thomasadam

Not too many folks still use slide rules. A few, but fewer all the time.

It's a shame, because they give you an insight about math and relationships between values that you just don't get from a calculator or a digital computer.

I keep one handy for quick calculations, but I'm not an engineer.

Have a look at The Oughtred Society, too: https://www.oughtred.org/index.shtml

...and their publication, The Journal of the Oughtred Society: https://www.oughtred.org/journal.shtml

#SlideRules #SlideRule

Oughtred Society Slide Rule Home Page.

Oughtred Society Slide Rule Collectors