It had no sliding parts but by using a pair of dividers it was possible to multiply and divide numbers. The line, inscribed on wood, was a single logarithmic scale going from 1 to 100. In about 1620 Edmund Gunter introduced what is now known as Gunter's line as one element of the Gunter's sector he invented for mariners. A cursor (also called runner or glass) containing one (or more) hairlines may be slid along the whole rule so that corresponding readings, front and back, can be taken from the various scales on the body and slider. The slider's scales may be visible from the back or the slider may need to be slid right out and replaced facing the other way round. On duplex rules the body and/or the slider have scales on the back as well as the front. Before they were superseded by electronic calculators in the 1970s slide rules were an important type of portable calculating instrument.įurther information: Slide rule § Physical designĪ slide rule consists of a body and a slider that can be slid along within the body and both these have numerical scales inscribed on them. Later, multiple scales were provided with the most basic being logarithmic but with others graduated according to the mathematical function required.įew slide rules have been designed for addition and subtraction, rather the main scales are used for multiplication and division and the other scales are for mathematical calculations involving trigonometric, exponential and, generally, transcendental functions. The earliest such device had a single logarithmic scale for performing multiplication and division but soon an improved technique was developed which involved two such scales sliding alongside each other – hence the name slide rule (colloquially called a slipstick in the United States). Keuffel and Esser 7" slide rule (5" scale, 1954) Ī slide rule scale is a line with graduated markings inscribed along the length of a slide rule used for mathematical calculations. Graduated markings, generally logarithmic, on slide rule
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