Slide rule

High school (ages 12+)
Mathematics & Numbers

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/slide-rule

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary mechanism?Mechanical analog computer utilizing logarithmic scales on slidable rulers
2. What is the accuracy limitation?Standard linear slide rules typically offered accuracy to about three significant digits
3. How does a slide rule work?The scales on a slide rule show logarithms of numbers. When you slide the ruler, the distances between marks add or subtract those logarithms, giving you the product or quotient of the numbers.
4. Who invented the slide rule?English mathematician William Oughtred created the first practical slide rule around 1622, using ideas from John Napier's logarithms.

Analog Computer: A computing device that uses continuous physical phenomena to model the problem being solved.
Logarithms: Mathematical functions that express a number as a power of a base, simplifying multiplication and division.
Trigonometry: The branch of mathematics concerned with relationships between angles and sides of triangles, crucial for many scientific applications.
Obsolete: No longer produced or used; out of date, replaced by newer technology.