Ha, it's interesting to see that the first calculator is a slide rule. I still possess two of my favorite slide rules, a Hemmi Darmstadt and my prised Faber-Castell 14" Novo-Duplex (one of the best slide rules ever made).
Once you become expert in using a slide rule, like Morse code, its use becomes automatic and you never forget how to use it.
For those who've never heard of a slide rule let alone used one, then there's some images of them here (including my Novo-Duplex): https://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/fc.html
Incidentally, my father was an engineer involved in the design and building of power stations. As a 14-something teenager, on weekends to earn some pocket money, I'd help my father to calculate the amount of steel
in RSJs used in the construction of power stations then estimate their cost.
I'd lay sprawled out stomach down with slide rule in hand over plans of power stations that were so large that the only place where they could be layed flat was on the lounge room floor.
With my slide rule in hand, I'd be willing to bet that I could do these calculations considerably faster than anyone with a handheld calculator. Sometimes, newer isn't necessarily better.
Once you become expert in using a slide rule, like Morse code, its use becomes automatic and you never forget how to use it.
For those who've never heard of a slide rule let alone used one, then there's some images of them here (including my Novo-Duplex): https://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/fc.html
Incidentally, my father was an engineer involved in the design and building of power stations. As a 14-something teenager, on weekends to earn some pocket money, I'd help my father to calculate the amount of steel in RSJs used in the construction of power stations then estimate their cost.
I'd lay sprawled out stomach down with slide rule in hand over plans of power stations that were so large that the only place where they could be layed flat was on the lounge room floor.
With my slide rule in hand, I'd be willing to bet that I could do these calculations considerably faster than anyone with a handheld calculator. Sometimes, newer isn't necessarily better.