What is a slide rule, and why was it’s invention such a big deal?
In: 1999
Take two 1 foot rulers, and place them side by side so the the 1inch marks line up. Now slide one of the rulers so that the end lines up with the 3 on the other ruler. You can now see all the additions of 3 by looking at how the numbers line up.
|….1….2….3….4….5….6….7….8….9….10…11…|
|….1….2….3….4….5….
You now have a simple slide rule that you can do simple addition and subtraction with.
Now instead of evenly spaced marks, you use a logarithmic scale you can multiply and divide numbers based on the fact that log(a) + log(b) = log(a+b)
Sorry if the above doesn’t format just right, but you should be able to get the basic idea
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