Re: [Rollei] Obsolete skills (was Why the 6-element lens for 3.5Fs)

["Richard Knoppow" <dickburk >]

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Guido Cova" <guido.cova  
To: <rollei  
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 1:32 PM
Subject: R: [Rollei] Obsolete skills (was Why the 6-element
lens for 3.5Fs)


> Many years ago, I studied engineering in Milano, and I
performed all my
> calculations using a Nestler 25cm (10") slide-rule.
> Nowadays, I still use a Faber-Castell 5" slide-rule, which
I have been usign
> on the field for many years, in every possible
environment: hot, cold, wet,
> damp, with no failures at all: no batteries!
> The only drawback is that you must understand the
magnitude of the results,
> and know what to expect from them (but this is just what
old-style engineers
> were trained for, isn't it?).
> Ciao
> Guido
>
> > >I was using a slide rule in the 6th grade.  I'm sure
Jerry, since he
> > >also went to Bronx Science, mastered slide rules.
> >
> > Are there more than three of us on this list?
> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
- -
> > les clark / edgewater, nj / usa
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
- -

  I learned to use a slide rule in junior high. I still have
my original somwhere, a Bamboo Manheim pattern made by
Fredrick Post company. I have a log-log K&E here which I
stll use occasionally, its faster than a calculator for some
things.
  One thing about learning to use a slide rule is that one
must learn to do rough calculations in one's head to get the
right order of magnitude, etc. That has proven very useful
elsewhere in avoiding blunders. Calculators are, of course,
much easier and will do much more than a slide rule but the
discipline that goes with the slide rule is missing.
- ---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk  

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