One thing that was once lost on me is that in the pre-calculator world, it wasn't just "here's a slide rule, sorry, calculators haven't been invented yet". There was a whole variety of mathematical instruments to help you do different calculations: nomegrams, planimeters, derivimiters, and more.
Want to evaluate an integral? Plot it down on some paper, then cut the paper out and weigh it.
My go-to youtube channel for this stuff is Chris Staecker, who has a lot of these oddball math things and a bunch of mechanical calculators, too.
https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisStaecker/videos
y-curious•6h ago
Wow, your example about weighing the paper blew my mind. It makes sense, but I've never thought about it! I love when mathematical calculation breaks through into the physical world.
Qem•5h ago
Are those still manufactured?
chuckadams•5h ago
All "flight computers" that pilots are required to learn are circular slide rules.
alnwlsn•6h ago
Want to evaluate an integral? Plot it down on some paper, then cut the paper out and weigh it.
My go-to youtube channel for this stuff is Chris Staecker, who has a lot of these oddball math things and a bunch of mechanical calculators, too. https://www.youtube.com/@ChrisStaecker/videos
y-curious•6h ago