Slide rules enhance understanding of the functions used (mostly logarithm & trig) and require keeping mental track of orders of magnitude(so they help avoid _big_ mistakes in quick calculations).
Slide rules are primarily visual and manipulated non-digitally. Using one is quite relaxing. The calculator interface demands "numbers as a sequence of digits" and you must type each digit and operation. But with a slide rule, numbers are values (usually 3-digit) on a number line instead. The analog nature of the computation fits the human brain well IMO.
My favorite was a circular slide rule since it eliminated multiplications (logarithmic additions) that were off the scale (which on most slide rules mandated a shift of the slide to the opposite side).
One of the initial attractions of electronic calculator when they first became commonly available was the increased number of significant digits, yet it is amazing how much was done previously using only three.
Slide rules are primarily visual and manipulated non-digitally. Using one is quite relaxing. The calculator interface demands "numbers as a sequence of digits" and you must type each digit and operation. But with a slide rule, numbers are values (usually 3-digit) on a number line instead. The analog nature of the computation fits the human brain well IMO.
My favorite was a circular slide rule since it eliminated multiplications (logarithmic additions) that were off the scale (which on most slide rules mandated a shift of the slide to the opposite side).
One of the initial attractions of electronic calculator when they first became commonly available was the increased number of significant digits, yet it is amazing how much was done previously using only three.