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Side view of a hand drawing on a mechanical drawing board.

Hand Drawing

Side view of a hand drawing on a mechanical drawing board.

The slide rule, also known colloquially as a slip stick, which is a mechanical analog computer. The slide rule is used primarily for multiplication and division, and also for scientific functions such as roots, logarithms and trigonometry, but is not normally used for addition or subtraction. Slide rules come in a diverse range of styles and generally appear in a linear or circular form with a standardized set of markings essential to performing mathematical computations. Slide rules manufactured for specialized fields such as aviation or finance typically feature additional scales that aid in calculations common to that field.

Marker for Slide Rules

The slide rule, also known colloquially as a slip stick, which is a mechanical analog computer. The…