How does a circular slide rule work?

Circular slide rules. Circular slide rules come in two basic types, one with two cursors, and another with a free dish and one cursor. The dual cursor versions perform multiplication and division by holding a fast angle between the cursors as they are rotated around the dial.

What is slide rule Short answer?

A slide rule, also known as a slide ruler or a slipstick, is an extremely complex ruler that functions as an analog computer. By sliding various components of the ruler to align with one another, a slide rule can compute products, roots, logarithms, and the result of trigonometric functions.

What is the purpose of a slide rule?

To serve as a mechanical analog computerSlide rule / Purpose

What is slide rule math?

A slide rule works by adding or subtracting the numerical exponents of numbers for multiplication or division, respectively. Thus, numbers to be multiplied or divided are converted to their logarithmic values and their exponents are added or subtracted.

How does a slide rule use logarithms?

The slide rule made it easier to utilize the log relations by developing a number line on which the displacement of the numbers were proportional to their logs. The slide rule eased the addition of the two logarithmic displacements of the numbers, thus assisting with multiplication and division in calculations.

What are the features of slide rule?

Typical slide rules contain scales for multiplying, dividing, and extracting square roots, and some also contain scales for calculating trigonometric functions and logarithms.

Who made slide rule?

William OughtredSlide rule / Inventor

What are the parts of a slide rule?

A slide rule consists of three parts: the body, the slide, and the cursor. The body and the slide are marked with scales. The cursor has a hairline that facilitates accurate positioning of the cursor at a specific point on some scale.

How accurate is a slide rule?

A slide rule is only as accurate as its manufacture and calibration and your ability to set it and read values. In practice, you get between two and three significant figures from slide rule calculations, and these errors compound as you use intermediate values in subsequent calculations.

How was the slide rule developed?

About 1622, William Oughtred (Figure 1, right), an Anglican Minister, today recognized as the inventor of the slide rule in its actual form, by placing two such scales side by side and sliding them to read the distance relationships, thus multiplying and dividing directly. He also developed a circular slide rule.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of slide rule?

one of the advantages of using a slide rule is that it is an extension of the mind. Slide rules don’t set decimal points; the user has to make a rough calculation to determine the decimal point location in an answer. Because of this, users develop a skill that allows them to perform fast mental calculations.

When was slide rule invented?

Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869) studied medicine at Edinburgh University. In 1814, he invented a slide rule to calculate the roots and powers of numbers.

What is the size of a round slide rule?

Slide rules that are round offer the length of a 10″ rectangular slide rule in a pocket-sized (roughly 3.6″) format, since the scales are on the circumference of circles. The scales are also continuous, so there is no need to make adjustments, such as folded and inverse scales, for results of calculations that go off the ends of the scales.

What was the purpose of the circular slide rule?

This two-sided white plastic circular slide rule helped railroad procurement officers determine the amount and cost of coal or oil needed to efficiently operate the boiler of a train engine. It consists of three concentric discs, with the two smaller discs on the front and back and one large disc in the middle.

What is a tan circular slide rule?

This tan circular slide rule was made by the Whitehead & Hoag Company of Newark, N.J., under a June 6, 1905, patent for printing on pyroxylin (celluloid). It has a rotating disc and another rotating circular segment, pivoted about a metal rivet and attached to a rectangular celluloid base.

What is a paper circular rule?

This paper circular rule consists of two paper discs, a celluloid indicator, and a metal screw that holds everything together.