Peter Trei wrote:
When I was in high school, slide rules and log tables were standard equipment - calculators started to come in towards the end. There was a *lot* of controversy over their use in exams, and in homework ('show your working...'). At one point, you could use a calculator, but only if you noted the fact (and model) on your exam paper.
If I remember my history right, the order that math was done often depended on the model of calculator it was done on. I remember being warned as late as 1991 how some calculators may still still add before they multiply, and to use those parenthesis for good measure, just to be safe.
I still treasure one of the heirlooms from my grandfather - a 12 inch bamboo rule, with his name carefully engraved in engineering lettering ( which he used during his 50+ years at Ma Bell).
I know where there used to be a basic model slide rule that spans about 10 feet, it was mounted on the wall of the math room where I spent junior high. My dad actually taught me basic arithemetic on it. (Ironically, on the opposite wall were the computers, an Apple IIe, a Commodore 64, two TI99/4a's and about 4 Tandy 1000/tx's, this did all take place before 1989) Sean Roach