Glen,

My generation was the transition generation from slide rules to scientific 
calculators. As a freshman engineering student at the University of Tennessee 
in 1974, we were required to use a slide rule (typically the cheaper K&E for 
one quarter then switch to the scientific calculator (typically the reverse 
Polish notation HP-35). I was fortunate to obtain a HP-45 with timer for lab 
experiments.

It is interesting to note how times change and educational standards change. 
Though not always for the better.

Those were the days...

Phillip W4RTX

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 30, 2016, at 6:59 PM, Glen Zook via Boatanchors 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> When I was a freshman at Georgia Tech, 1962, every student was required to 
> purchase either a Post Versalog or a K+E slide rule.  However, at least in 
> any class that I took, none required you to use a particular slide rule!
> 
> I had a circular slide rule that my high school physics had obtained for any 
> of his students that wanted one and use that slide rule in class, etc.  That 
> slide rule was printed onto a metal surface and, eventually, the lettering 
> wore off.  But, it lasted until I got out of college.
> 
> I still have my Post Versalog and, for all practical purposes, it is still 
> brand new!  The color on the leather case has faded over the years.  But, for 
> being over 50-years old, it is still in excellent shape.
> 
> One has to realize that in every cellular telephone there is more computing 
> capacity than all the computers that NASA had to put man on the moon in 1969! 
>  Students today rely on a pocket calculator and many don't have any ability 
> to even add / subtract without the calculator, let alone multiply or divide!
>  Glen, K9STH 
> Website: http://k9sth.net
> 
> 
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