Math Calculating with Slide-rule

[jarmonik]

I made a small program that can be used to design and simulate a slide rules. In a world of a modern digital computers there's not much use for slide-rules anymore but the application gives an opportunity to study and see how the things were done in the past. I was about 5 years old when I hold a real slide-rule in my hand but didn't understood much about it back then. And they got replaced pretty quickly with more advanced devices soon after that.

Slide-rules can compute pretty much everything that a hand held calculator can do.

Via a use of the slide:
Division, Multiplication y/x, y*x. Exponential functions x^y, Log_b(x).

By cursor lookup:
lg(x), Sqrt(x), x^2, sin(x), cos(x), tan(x), asin(x), acos(x), atan(x), Sqrt(1-x^2)

When dealing with larger numbers it's necessary to break them down into a smaller ones. (e.g. Sqrt(450) = Sqrt(4.5) * 10)

Download a Homebrew SlideRule: My Orbiter Page

This is also the first program that I have ever written in C#, so, it was educational experience from that point of view too.

Here's screen shot of 4.5^0.3 = 1.57

I was hoping to come-up with something more Orbiter related surprise but anyway..


Some references:
www.saunalahti.fi/aholop/Laskutikku.htm (in Finnish)
^Good instructions on how to use a slide rule. Google translator seems to be working pretty well^

The University Of Utah: What Can You Do With A Slide Rule?

 

[Thorsten]

I actually discovered my father's when I was approaching the age when we were allowed pocket calculators at school, learned how to use it and became pretty good at it. It's a pretty nifty device.

Just the teachers refused to let me use it instead of a pocket calculator :lol:

 

[jarmonik]

My father might actually have some in a storage somewhere, I probably should ask.

There's seems to be a problem with this software. I can't get it to work in an other computer. I have have the .NET 4.5.2 installed and VC 2015 redistributables. But the application doesn't start. No errors displayed. Nothing happens.

Any ideas what might be wrong ? I have no previous experience in C# apps.

 

[GLS]

My father might actually have some in a storage somewhere, I probably should ask.

There's seems to be a problem with this software. I can't get it to work in an other computer. I have have the .NET 4.5.2 installed and VC 2015 redistributables. But the application doesn't start. No errors displayed. Nothing happens.

Any ideas what might be wrong ? I have no previous experience in C# apps.

It works here!
I've seen such behaviour on downloaded programs as Windows blocks their execution. Go to Properties of the .exe and make sure that the file isn't blocked (on the bottom, click the Unblock button).

 

[AssemblyLanguage]

Just the teachers refused to let me use it instead of a pocket calculator :lol:

Pocket calculators were not permitted when I was in Engineering school. I did not carry it with the case hook to my belt nor did I use a pocket protector. I still have two aluminum slide rules somewhere.

 

[boogabooga]

I made a small program that can be used to design and simulate a slide rules.

That's one of the most incredible sentences that I have heard in a while! Very meta.

:rofl:

 

[Linguofreak]

So, sort of like a rotary dialer app for a smartphone?

 

[jarmonik]

That's one of the most incredible sentences that I have heard in a while! Very meta.

:rofl:

I think you may have missed the point. I am not really expecting anyone to calculate anything with it. But some of us may be interested to know and test that how does it work exactly.

But still I haven´t had any luck running the software with my laptop. I didn´t find any indications of it being blocked by OS. It runs fine on desktop machine where it was created. Both computers have Win 10. Any ideas what could be wrong there ?

Nothing happens when I click the executable. I am starting the get a feeling that C# is a major step down from C++

 

[Zeehond]

I got an error on Windows 7 x64. I looked in the Event Viewer and found this:

Application: SlideRule.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException
   at System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown.set_Value(System.Decimal)
   at SlideRule.RuleForm.OpenFile(System.String)
   at SlideRule.RuleForm..ctor()
   at SlideRule.Program.Main()

After changing the decimal symbol from comma to point in the language settings of Windows, the application worked.

 

[boogabooga]

I think you may have missed the point. I am not really expecting anyone to calculate anything with it. But some of us may be interested to know and test that how does it work exactly.

Oh no, I did NOT miss the point. Not at all.

But to try to understand how a physical object works-by simulating it using the very technology that rendered it obsolete in the first place, rather than, er, just obtaining a real physical slide rule- is so deliciously ironic....there are no words!

---------- Post added at 06:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------

P.S., try disabling your anti-virus to get it to run.

 

[Notebook]

Its gone off to the very depth of AVG anti-virus lab. So they say, its very rare..

Either way, having fun, had a plastic one 40 years ago. Nice to see how the accuracy depends on your eye-sight!

Thanks for that, N.

 

[jarmonik]

I got an error on Windows 7 x64. I looked in the Event Viewer and found this:

Application: SlideRule.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException
   at System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown.set_Value(System.Decimal)
   at SlideRule.RuleForm.OpenFile(System.String)
   at SlideRule.RuleForm..ctor()
   at SlideRule.Program.Main()

After changing the decimal symbol from comma to point in the language settings of Windows, the application worked.

Ok, thanks. That was the problem preventing it from running on my laptop too. I´ll have to figure out how to make is less language sensitive. I suppose the application could just display that information when it fails, rather than just be quiet.

 

[Face]

I also get an exception, although on Win7. I think you should use InvariantCulture when saving/loading/parsing the values from files.

---------- Post added at 11:59 ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 ----------

Yes, I think the problem is with the <type>.Parse() calls in the FileObject.ReadFromFile() method. In the else-part of the parser-loop, consider exchanging things like this:

this.dic.Add(text2, float.Parse(text4));

with this:

this.dic.Add(text2, float.Parse(text4, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));

---------- Post added at 12:23 ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 ----------

And in the meantime, here is a small launcher that configures the environment to use InvariantCulture completely and invokes Jarmo's RuleForm. Just copy it into the SlideRule folder and start it. No need to fiddle with OS settings with that.

 

[jarmonik]

Yes, I think the problem is with the <type>.Parse() calls in the FileObject.ReadFromFile() method. In the else-part of the parser-loop, consider exchanging things like this:

this.dic.Add(text2, float.Parse(text4));

with this:

this.dic.Add(text2, float.Parse(text4, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));

Thanks for the tips. I have added that and a few other safety checks in data parsing. New release has been uploaded with bug fixes, improvements and sources. The application should be pretty much complete now.

 

[fort]

Hello,

Mine was a Graphoplex when i was student ( i'm 68 now ).

I was searching for some virtual slide few years ago and i still have, for example, those, through this link, in my bookmarks:

http://www.antiquark.com/sliderule/sim/index.html

and others, as exe, working in 32 bits.

good day.

 

[Ripley]

I think I got this link from OF some time ago:
http://www.sliderulemuseum.com

 

[boogabooga]

I find this to be a pleasant video on the subject:

Also this:

 

[Urwumpe]

I were the reason that teachers also remember to exclude slide rules in exam rules. While I never insisted on using it and rarely had it outside my backpack during an exam, I really like the fact that using a slide rule can be MUCH faster than using a pocket calculator, if excessive accuracy is not needed. And it will NEVER be dead because the battery failed and does no longer operate on solar power.

I think teaching young students math with pocket calculators is a bad idea, compared to a slide rule, which really forces you to THINK about the problem, than just get dumbed down to a computer. Many teachers really work on making students as stupid as a computer, who will beat them with speed then. Math should not be about typing digits and operators as fast as possible into a calculator, but to avoid most of this.

My slide rule is a old German Aristo, that already my aunt and my mother used at school. Feels pretty historic to have their graffiti engraved into the case of it. :lol:

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I don't feel so bad now. The wife and kid both thought I was crazy when I said I could outperform her with her calculator by using my grandads old slide rule.

 

[boogabooga]

I don't feel so bad now. The wife and kid both thought I was crazy when I said I could outperform her with her calculator by using my grandads old slide rule.

As long as you don't need four significant figures in you answer.