How to Use a Slide Rule - Easy Explanation / Lesson - 1957

This classic film gives a very easy detailed explanation on how to use a slide rule. Includes quick review of significant digits. MCMLVII -1957
/ @16mmeducationalfilms

[@pinklady7184]

63 year old film on a slide rule. My thanks to that late tutor for the lessons. Rest in peace, old soul. I just got my first slide rule yesterday. I am having fun learning it.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

That's great to hear - I learn a lot from these old ed films.

[@MarvinClarence]

Hi! I am the Head of Public Enlightenment for the International Slide Rule Museum. Would you be interested in joining one of our meetings online?

[@user-kb8qf2cl9z]

​@@MarvinClarenceEn que link me puedo unir. Tengo 3 reglas de cálculo. 2 libros que estoy estudiando.

[@douglaseuritt3919]

I’m 64 and just getting started with slide rules too. I’m really drawn to these pre-digital computers. I have a set of Napier’s Bones on the way as well. The older I get, the more I appreciate what we had before the digital age arrived.

[@richardjung1438]

I can’t believe I watched this entire thing. I have learned so much by this old video. I’m ready to geek out and buy myself a slide rule just because. Something tells me they aren’t $0.50 anymore.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

That's funny - imagine walking around calculating with that thing - you'd be a local legend. You know, "The guy with the slide rule?"

[@pinklady7184]

If I could take a time travel machine and bring back slide rules in mint condition, I could sell them at max €50 each and make nearly 10,000% profit. 0,50 cent = 100%, €50,00 = 10,000%. 😁

[@leo.girardi]

@@16mmEducationalFilms I used my dad's old hand me down through HS until my senior year ('80), when my physics teacher threatened to buy me a calculator out of his own pocket. Just got a NOS one, still in plastic wrap and oiled up. Took it out to go through this vid. It was great! Thx for posting it.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

@@leo.girardi You're welcome - figured someone would really enjoy it :)

[@DesidiosumCorporosumHominis]

@@pinklady7184 you would need to travel back in time with a pocket full of money from the time period or else it would be worthless. You could get a job to save up money to buy the slide rules but you'd likely need to be wearing period appropriate clothing to apply for it. Realistically you could just steal a bunch of them and use your time machine to travel to the future. If can avoid getting caught stealing and travel back to present day nobody is going to be looking for you anymore.

[@skyrocketautomotive]

Liking for how nervous this chap seemed, he needn't have been, this was absolutely fascinating and it likely would've made his day to know people are still benefitting from this video 63 years later!

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

I agree - good old lesson.

[@skyrocketautomotive]

@@16mmEducationalFilms thankyou for taking the time to upload these, I genuinely wish I'd learned from these people, in this way, when I was growing up. Perhaps if the presenter had been less 'down with the kidz' in the 90s I wouldn't be so bad at maths! I'm borderline idiotic when it comes to numbers and came away from this video understanding every fundamental principle given to me (and also trawling Ebay for vintage slide rules 🤣🤣). Thanks again, keep up the great work giving us windows into this wonderful time!

[@konglives4453]

@@skyrocketautomotive "and also trawling Ebay for vintage slide rules" -- Same here ! Guilty as charged.

[@jeffw1267]

@@konglives4453 If you're willing to wait for auction and put in some lowball bids you can get slide rules for cheap.

[@bobh6728]

He probably was a little nervous because he had to do it in one take. To edit, you had to cut the the film and then splice/glue it back together. As a kid we had a slicing machine for the old 8mm film. I think we only used it to take out blurry or black sections of family videos. Should have used it to make cool movies!

[@LightsonthePath]

I was 14 years old when my father taught me how to use a slide rule. In that same year calculators were just starting to be introduced to the general public. My 9th grade science class teacher handed out Texas Instruments black calculators that we would plug in, and marvel at their magical ability to multiply and divide. Looking back even earlier, I recall being taught how to add numbers in grade school using an abacus - which would place my youth somewhere between 2,000 B.C Mesopotamia and 1960’s New Jersey. But in 1978, was when my father introduced me to the slide rule. My father said I needed to learn how to use the slide rule because soon people would be using electronic calculators, and calculators would make people dumb. It all seemed so magical to me at the time - and it still seems that ways today.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

Cool story - thanks :)

[@MarvinClarence]

Hi! I am the Head of Public Enlightenment for the International Slide Rule Museum. Would you be interested in joining one of our meetings online? I share your belief that slide rules are magical - they truly are.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

Nothing wrong with having the best of both worlds!

[@allanegleston4931]

i had major difficulties in math. dr ordered the school district that i was in to let me use a ten key adding machine . life would have been a lot easer for me if i could do that. i have a book and it is still confusing

[@brainwashingdetergent4322]

You must have had quite the childhood!

[@frederickwise5238]

Started using a 4 scale F. Post rule in High School, Physics class, '54. Mr Steinberg was a great help. In ET school, 1958, 1st week I saw my 4 scale rule wasnt gonna cut it. 😁 And on liberty to Oakland 3rd or 4th weekend I saw a K&E log log trig rule in a pawn shop window (orphaned by a drop out). $20 bought me a rule I still have. It saw me thru 6 mo to graduating top of my class and I used it off and on into the early 70's. In 1973 a man in R group bought the first scientific TI calc I ever saw, paid ~$800, (way... outside my pay range back then.) I still use my ole K&E now and then just for drill. About "significant digits", in electronics school it sometimes became necessary to interpolate between those "lil" hairlines. Doing so to 4 or 5 places was not impossible. PS the batteries never need replacing.!!🤣🤣

[@MRNICK_OSINT]

Well planned presentation. Clear voice. Knows his stuff. He doesn't like the camera, but he likes teaching....he likes his subject. But the key point is I learned. Thank you, sir. According to my slide rule, given it was 1957, he must be about about 113.2...instructing in heaven.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

You're right - he didn't like the camera but was a good teacher. Yep he's teaching the slide rule in heaven but with confidence in front of the camera this time :)

[@pinklady7184]

He is probably reincarnated. His forgetful self in next life thinking: "Have I ever played with rulers before?" 🤔

[@neilhamilton5469]

@@16mmEducationalFilms He'll be pleased to know his film is being watched all over the world many years later

[@SoloRenegade]

Education used to be better. People used to really know their stuff.

[@user-rx9qy8ck7r]

Prof. Dr. Harvey Elliot White (1902 - 1988), University of California, USA.

[@DavidBerglund]

He died when I was 4 and now he teaches me how to use a slide rule, something I never had heard about until yesterday (39 yrs old). I'm eagerly awaiting getting my first one from eBay.

[@davecrupel2817]

Wish i could have had him as an instructor or a lecturer.

[@douglaseuritt3919]

It is a testament to this fellow that of all the KZbin videos I’ve watched on slide rule operation, this is the one that made it all click. Thanks to you who ever you are and wherever you are now.

[@s.v.berezin1562]

The clarity of diction, presentation, and concept on this decades-old video is astounding. Thank you for sharing, I am finally able to fruitfully employ my grandfather's slide rule.

[@douglasstrother6584]

I have my Dad's Keuffel & Esser slide rule, along with the manual, with "Dad's Name" written inside the front cover. When the rolling blackouts hit California this summer, I can keep working!

[@kristieguldin9479]

For my birthday, my Dad (80 years young) gave me his slide rules from his Penn State and Navy days. This was a fantastic film. Informative and nostalgic.

[@markiewodi3371]

I’m 49, have no interest in mathematics, don’t know why I clicked. I can’t believe what just happened, this was almost magical. I love the guy, I love the math and I just learned something. Not only that but purchased one. Subscribed. Wow I hope your content is full of more goodies.

[@882952]

And just think, this was how Lockheed designed the A-12 and SR-71. Just breaking down numbers and sliding that thing back and forth, all damn day long. Gotta love it but also I'd hate to have to do it every time I needed math. :)

[@Trashkhan]

...considering my "love" for math, I would have never imagined I would enjoy this... but I did ! Thanks a lot !

[@C_Castillo]

Damn, I learned more in this 30 mins of 1950s math instructuon than in some of my classes at uni

[@christosneophytou1238]

This guy is a great teacher. Best slide rule explanation I found

[@daveluttinen2547]

If there is ever an electromagnetic pulse rendering all technology useless, those who have the skills to operate one of these could be in high demand for employment. Scotty said, in Star Trek, the more they fancy up the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. The slide rule sure is a lot less fuss than the TI-84 (for some operations)! One wonders how much it cost to produce this. Film could not have been cheap. Thank you for posting this!

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

You're welcome - glad you enjoyed it. Did you know these films ranged from like 400 to 800 dollars a piece. Suburban Detroit public schools had no problem back in the 50's - 80's spending that kind of money. Dearborn Publics Schools had over 3000 films and they tossed them all in the 90's. Luckily I was there to scoop up about 500 of them. I'm bummed that I didn't save more of them :)

[@Oldhogleg]

@@16mmEducationalFilms Me too.

[@allanegleston4931]

i was on a cruise on the columbia river in 2000 the aquatic vehicle was a diesel paddle boat. when we were going on board the first time i noticed that the purser was using a abbicus!!!!!. this was when the non event y2k crisis was going on. was joking with a fellow passenger about that the device was virus proof and didn't need updates or patches .

[@elmoreglidingclub3030]

This is absolutely brilliant!! Rest In Peace, Professor White. You have helped me a great deal. I now own four slide rules and am thoroughly enjoying learning to use them and gaining a profound understanding of the math they allow me to enjoy. It is not insignificant that Bob Ebeling and Roger Boisjoly learned engineering using slide rules. We could learn a lot from our fathers’ and grandfathers’ work and classrooms.

[@ks8452]

My dad grew up during the depression and only had an 8th grade education. After WW2 he started a steel fabrication company and was a master at the slide rule. I only managed to learn about 1% of what a slide rule could do. Too overwhelming for me and he wasn't a very patient man when it came down to teaching me. Great video. Thanks for posting.

[@paulfowler2502]

I love these old educational films! Watched so many of these while in school. I remember the teacher setting up the film projector every time. Sometimes the older students in audio visual club would be there to do it. Simpler times!

[@RoscoesRiffs]

I have just now received a beautiful, new condition K&E Deci-Lon I bought for $60 on ebay. I believe it's the same model I purchased in 1967, when I was a high school sophomore using money I earned working at a Burger King. I remember paying roughly the same dollar amount for it back then. That would be nearly $500 in today's money. I learned to use every scale on it back then. This is going to be quite a refresher! 😎

[@ricardogarcia3900]

I'm 52 years old and I didn't use a slide ruler. My calculus teacher at the university was a genious with the slide ruler ... faster than a CASIO calculator . Congrats what a good video.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

Thanks for sharing - glad you enjoyed the film.

[@oskarpinedaarvizu6914]

that giant slide rule is cool!!

[@DFX2KX]

It is, there's something great about dedicated presentation equipment (which was still around here and there in the 90s when I was little), you just never see it anymore. big clocks to show you how to read one, anatomical models, calculators that used the projector so everyone could see the screen... things like that are neat

[@simpleman283]

The Professor said "get yourself one". Now I must have a slide rule.

[@konglives4453]

Exactly ! I obeyed the Professor's suggestion and bought one via Ebay for about 30 bucks.

[@bertoldoschneiderjunior5786]

wow, the movie is still good for what it was made for and it's nice. I really appreciated... from Brazil...

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

Glad you enjoyed it - you're welcome - have a great week :)

[@igrieger]

I agree, Bertoldo! I got a slide rule and this video was really nice to help me learn how to use it

[@elishaoreunomhe]

So simple and clear

[@elishaoreunomhe]

Who is this man? He is so good!

[@jasonmorris858]

Yeah well Biscoum those villagers laughed at George Pythagoras when he said "Aehy've discovered the perfect triangle" after all people really thought the World was flat then.

[@tomhammer1784]

Because you are adding logarithms with a slide rule to multiply. That needs to be first understood. Also the understanding of exponents of ten with the significant numbers is paramount to handle very large and very small numbers. My first sliderule, a Post Versa-log cost me $30….a lot of money back in 1965.

[@DavidBerglund]

For the people who don't see a use for it anymore: surely it's educational to see the relationship between numbers in this way? And if you're ever stuck without electricity (and have no working calculator with battery). But more than that isn't it fascinating to learn how essential a simple (geniously so) tool like this was to human endeavors? Helped us build many bridges and even to get a few humans into space.

[@duncanmckenzie2815]

Absolutely marvellous film. I have purchased a slide rule and this is great for working out how to use it. Thank you.

[@DFX2KX]

And here I am now, 67 years later, watching this to see how a Slide Rule I got in Goodwill today works (Dad showed me many years ago, but I only briefly messed with that one). this one's an old Faber Castil 57/87, and was the later one made in 1972. One of the last of the slide rules to be made before pocket scientific calculators began to replace them. Nautical computers (like slide rules, but round) are still super popular though.

[@RandomJ2023]

Could you imagine interviewing this Professor with a smart phone in your hand?

[@MrSnead-sd8gb]

I could not learn slide rule in High School. (60's). Could not figure out where the decimals were coming from. I finally learned how to use the slide rule from this video. I have to interpolate. Thank you!!!

[@DarkMoonDroid]

Holy cow!!! I picked one up from a Thrift store for $4.99 the other day. Clearly, it was the $50 one!! Thrilled!! I am learning so much more from this guy. I've watched 2 so far from current day teachers on YT and couldn't follow them at all. Telling...

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

Good to hear - got to love thrift stores :)

[@leo.girardi]

Yep, this vid was easily an order of magnitude better than any of the currrent "instructional" vids on the same topic. It was done by someone wanting to teach you how to use it (presumably so you could pass his class), not a current math nerd that wants to tell you what they know about it. (ie, "here is how you use a car jack to change your tire", not "here are the principles that let you lift a lot of weight with ease using the car jack")

[@Sherlock2022]

I was in the transition stage at school, just learning to use a slide rule before calculators became the norm. I think it’s a useful exercise to use them to get a sense of the ratios of numbers, I believe it helped my understanding. I have a Sekonda Pilot’s watch, which has a rotating bezel with one, you can get apps now. Thanks for posting.

[@matthewmcgilvary3141]

This is great. I picked up a slide rule from a nice old couple on etsy a couple of months ago and now I am learning to use it. I have the abacus and the sliderule. I just need to get a soroban to complete my plan. I will be the master of mechanical calculators muahhahahahahah.

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

That's great to hear - I figured someone would like it :)

[@MarvinClarence]

Hi! I am the Head of Public Enlightenment for the International Slide Rule Museum. Would you be interested in joining one of our meetings online?

[@konglives4453]

You also need to get a "Magic Brain Calculator". They used to advertise them in comic books back in the early 1970's before the first electronic calculators were commonly available. I just recently bought one via Ebay. Here is one in action - kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGaWY6yObamCsKs

[@MarvinClarence]

@@konglives4453 Hello there! I am the Head of Public Education for the International Slide Rule Museum. Would you be interested in joining our meetings online?

[@TheMofRider2]

A great tool, and an awesome man explaining how it works. These are the things I am really missing nowadays...

[@8a41jt]

HA! I remember being in a freshman chem class in 1974, being taught about significance like this instructor does here. Were it not for the cheap calculators, we would have been using slide rules, too! (The prof HATED calculators! I learned why 10 years later ... binary floating point is only an approximation!)

[@Testacabeza]

I just got a slide rule, learning the basics with this video. Hope to surprise my father with it, I remembr breaking his rule when I was a kid playing with it.

[@Oldhogleg]

I was using the slide rules up until the mid 70's when the Casio pocket scientific calculator became affordable ($50), the most money I spent up to that point. The equivalent to approximately $500 in today's money

[@Kennyluvdata]

Best video on slide rule

[@roger7341]

I started using a Post slide rule in 1962, and after you have dropped it the accuracy has decreased from three significant digits to something less than three. So it is necessary to periodically recalibrate it to get the most accurate results. Only a few of today's students know the difference between precision and accuracy. My colleague taught engineering college classes. On one exam an engineering student wrote down 16 digits of an incorrect answer from his pocket calculator, and my colleague wrote in red, "Precise, but not Accurate." Multiplying and dividing numbers on a slide rule is based on adding and subtracting logarithms of these numbers. When two numbers with normal error distributions are multiplied together, their product no longer has a normal error distribution, but a log-normal error distribution, which is why the effective uncertainty can increase. Students are taught (or should be taught) early on that accuracy is only as good as the measurements, so never use more digits to represent computational results than the measurements provide, except in special cases where processing multiple measurements may allow some increase in accuracy.

[@WhatIsThisVid]

I honestly think people would understand math easier if we still taught slide rules before letting people use calculators. We don't seem to pick up the relationships between numbers and just input numbers into a black box which gives answers.

[@thefriar8883]

Honestly, Id agree with you. Ive never heard the term "significant figure" until today. Im nearly 30. I would kill to have had this guy as my math teacher because he explains things so well. Every math teacher Ive had has seriously sucked.

[@C_Castillo]

When these came out, i bet you the older generation of the time would tell you that using a slide rule will make you dumb and that you should just know how to do math

[@Sherlock2022]

I agree!

[@DougMacRay]

An excellent explanation of the slide rule but it would have been easier to understand if he’d used a laser pointer. Cheers from Boston ☘️

[@pierrepiea3279]

Just bought one on ebay. A close friend of mine had one in high school. She was a brainiac and it looked very mysterious. At 63 yo, I've re-discovered math and figure I could learn its mysterious ways. Plus, you never know when someone asks if anyone has a slide rule with them? LOL

[@ArmpitStudios]

There’s been one in this desk drawer since the ‘60s, as well as the instructions that came with it. I read them one day last year and learned how to use it. Watching this film, I became more confused, especially when he stopped using the ABCD rule names and just said top or bottom. He did his best for the circumstances, but some multiple takes and editing would’ve done wonders for this.

[@basfinnis]

Excellent video. Really interesting 😘

[@worddunlap]

I had to do the slide rule thing in college but shortly after calculators became acceptable and inexpensive. I also had to switch from conventional current flow to electron flow calculations. Had I not understood the relationships in the arithmetic with a slide rule I would have failed.

[@clintoncosby2233]

MCMLVII is 1957, not 1952.

[@jeffw1267]

Everybody knows that.

[@h7opolo]

i see this more as a novelty of a relationship between mathematics and distance.

[@BrettStone_stl]

Maybe, but this novelty also put people on the moon! My dad told a story of rocket propulsion engineers pouring over a set of drawings on early Space Shuttle propulsion. All the various tubes had calculations for pressure, and one of the engineers pointed to a number and said "I dont' think this number is right." The group each pulled out their slide rules and began calculating, confirmed it was indeed incorrect, and they changed the number on the spot.

[@h7opolo]

@@BrettStone_stl but it's pathetic when long division is easy af and actually accurate. weird phenomenon - slide rules

[@carlosc.garzajr.9699]

Just like we used in high school

[@brianwilling432]

You have to interprelate.

[@riadriddick1680]

J'ai 140 regles a calcul faber castell tout neuf made in allemagne en 1965.N°57/88 N°57/89 Avendre

[@hikarihitomi7706]

Makes me curious why circular sliderules were not more common.

[@rubes3927]

Was literally hanging on his every word 😂

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

It was very interesting - whoever invented the slide rule, was a super smart for sure. They ruled!

[@user-rx9qy8ck7r]

@@16mmEducationalFilms Sliderule was invnted by the English Mathematician William Oughtred (05/05/1574 - 30/06/1660) in 1630.

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

50 cent slide rule vs $35-$50 slide rule...there's no way it would be THAT much better than the 50 cent one! "A little better"? It better be a LOT better!!

[@StupidEarthlings]

At 12:45- Ish (with CC on) He talking bout Pi, saying " , where 3.1417 would be" etc, the subtitle said: " where 3.14 one filled with beef".. 😆🤣😅 here... lol.. balloon for you.. 🎈

[@davidjennings127]

50 cents that’s freaking hilarious.😂😂😂😂😂

[@jasonmorris858]

Yeah, interpellate what the origin of the °30/°60 set square is so 3-D and who cut an orange in half so diameter instead of circle area not forgetting learn your times tables to ×12 level.

[@jasonmorris858]

Answer in immmeldment ignore 3\6 rule types and in Australia when you're our tonne the road KEEP LEFT

[@jasonmorris858]

See using the slide rule as per qualitative synthesis you know giving the easiest task to the biggest fool proves the slowest uptake reveals the biggest fool.

[@jasonmorris858]

Jokes aside the basic equation to work with the slide rule should be 5×12=60 for instance AJAX Annealing °4 measurement °5 increment your °360 protractor is key.

[@xerozoo]

3.1417?

[@hamzaaburgheba9585]

Who is get oen this is rule

[@eldonjanzen9822]

Wow i looked up the inflation calculator 50 cents is about $6. 35 dollars is equivalent to a wopping $300 and $50 dollars in 1957 is close to about $600 in todays economy in the United States!!

[@deancyrus1]

16:28 6 its 6 2x3 😎

[@davecurry8305]

Some people consider me a significant figure.

[@DarkMoonDroid]

...now I'm left wondering who invented this thing... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_rule#History

[@16mmEducationalFilms]

Who ever invented it was a pure genius - makes me feel not too smart :)

[@samuelegbert2199]

Incredible to think in the early days there were no computers to design machines, cars/trucks, airplanes etc. it was all done with slide rules…We built SpaceShips and sent men to the MOON using these !!!! Incredible !!!

[@ronniel5941]

In the late 1960s I designed the most northerly motorway interchange in the UK (M90 at Craigend). I had to do 150 pages of calculations , using only 8-figure logarithms. I did use a slide rule a lot for other things.

[@patrickpowers5995]

Those of us who went to College in the mid-fifties soon learned about these essential devices. How can this so called spelling correction not cope with it?

[@JohnSmith-mo6re]

HOLY $35-50 for that second one, in 1957 monies??? That's SOOO expensive!!

[@pdr.]

I know! My jaw dropped when he said that. After a quick Google for inflation figures, that's $376 - $537 in today's (2023) money! The "cheap" 50c one would be $5.37 (to three significant figures). I was also surprised to see metric calculations.

[@JohnSmith-mo6re]

@@pdr. That's hilarious. Even graphing calculators don't cost that much, unless I guess maybe you got a pimp one. haha.

[@scottodonnell7121]

Whenever a GenY or Xer laughs at me for having trouble with my computer or phone, I just tell them, "You're one up on me, but I could use a slide rule when I was your age." And they are baffled by that.

[@joee7626]

And we sent Man to the moon using these things?!

[@boguraevmv]

There is no electricity!