Second link--
Obviously this item was for the devo-lution crowd. Or, to figure out where to place significant figure emphasis. I was given one of these new by the manufacturer, and used it often to check the accuracy of the electronic calculator. There was a rumor around that the new calculators worked just fine until the battery started getting weak, at which point they would just start giving the wrong answer. ha ha. Actually the idea was to show people how much "more accurate" a calculator was. I pointed out to one of the corporate heads that when significant figures were used in real life engineering calculations, for instance, there was no difference in accuracy--unless of course some poor engineer was forced to use the lousy slide rule they stuck on the back, or if someone was too stoned to know where a decimal point belonged. He summed it up nicely when he replied that the truth didn't matter, and that people loved pushing buttons. After all, he said, these calculators are for
the kids to play with, and to balance a checkbook--not to replace real engineers.

"dodecatheon.meadia" <dodecatheon@...> wrote:
The Faber Castell TR3 is used as an object lesson about whether it is
possible to keep up with changing technologies:

http://www.saffo.com/journal/entry.php?id=264&pg=

Reported on BoingBoing:

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/20/sliderulecalculator_.html

Ted
--
dodecatheon at gmail dot com
Frango ut patefaciam -- I break so that I may reveal


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