Re: The good old days

["Rick Tarara" <rbtarara@sprynet.com>]

I, for one, refuse to wax nostalgic about the 'good old days' of slide
rules, etc.  The brutal truth is that the good old days--weren't.  Yes I
used a slide rule in college and started my research work calculating
relativistic Q-value equations (nuclear collisions) using a Monroe adding
machine where one had to use special tables to do square-roots.  I'll take
my 1990's vintage calculator and my desktop computer over the old tools,
thank you.

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: William Weiler <wweiler@siue.edu>



> I agree with Leigh, and I think that a more powerful lesson that the
> slide rule taught was the art of estimating an answer before doing the
> math.  This skill is woefully lacking in today's students who willingly
> accept any number from their calculators without analysis.
> Bill