Render of the Day

Arduino has landed

I just received my first Arduino USB board in the mail, and I can’t wait to get started. As yet I have no idea what I’ll make first. More soon!

Slide Rules: A Primer

I’m a tool guy. I love tools of all sorts, be they software, hardware, shop tools, hand tools, or drafting tables. But I hold a special place in my heart for old tools, particularly those that performed a function in a simple and elegant way long-since forgotten in lieu of high technology. The slide rule is one such tool. My grandfather was a mechanical engineer and statistician, and a lifelong slide rule user. When I convinced him to give me one, I had no idea the obsession that would ensue.

Because it’s such a powerful and elegant tool, I’ve created an entire primer intended to explain the basic ideas that underpin this beautiful tool. I believe that the slide rule teaches the underlying concept of logarithms in a way that modern teaching techniques do not.

I’ve got an HTML version here, and a printable PDF version here.