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Slide rules, nomograms and additive functions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

David Hopkins*
Affiliation:
27 Byron Mews, London NW3 2NQ

Extract

Older readers will remember using a slide rule to carry out multiplication and division in the days before calculators. There was also a graphical tool called a nomogram, which was used for evaluating certain functions. Although such devices have little practical use nowadays, I was interested in investigating which classes of functions with two independent variables could be calculated using this type of device.

Figure 1 shows how a slide rule was used to multiply 3 by 4 (or equivalently to divide 12 by 4). To do this, you align the 1 on the upper scale with the 3 on the lower scale and then read off the value below the 4 on the upper scale to get 12 (or, for division, you line up the 4 above the 12 and read off the answer 3 on the lower scale).

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 2013

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References

1. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nomogram for a list of references on nomograms.Google Scholar
2. Kellison, S. G., The theory of interest (3rd edn.), McGraw-Hill (2008).Google Scholar