Slide rules–retro yes, but hipsters don’t do math so I’m okay.

 

So yes, I’m kind of struggling with math right now. I wouldn’t even say struggling, since that would imply that I didn’t grasp the concepts. I do that just fine, but just kind of suck at actually performing the calculations. This is probably due to the fact that early on I was discouraged from math and from the age of about fifteen onward, didn’t pay any attention beyond what would get me a C-. Given that, I have the basic comfort with numbers less than that of a child, and as such I’m looking for ways to improve that. And for some reason, I’ve decided that learning how to use a slide rule is going to make numbers more intuitive for me.

I grew up reading Heinlein, and it seemed every smart person (which, kind of like Rand, was always the protagonist since people who don’t agree with you are never smart and have ability, but I digress . . .) was always using a slide rule. I realized that yes, back when he wrote those books there was nothing else to use and it probably didn’t make anyone think twice at the time. But anyway, the things always seemed so fascinating to me. The guy had people flying starships and solving all sorts of complicated problems with a slide rule. Since I didn’t care about what math actually was until now though, I didn’t really get what that meant. Now that I’m doing math and physics, it seems pretty damn cool.

One must always guard against hipsterism, however. But I think this is safe: this is not an affectation, for one. You could argue that slide rules are still practical. If you crash your starship on some awful planet and your calculator gets crushed under a chair or something, how the hell are you ever going to sort out your shit? How are you ever going to deal with triangles? And we all know how triangles save lives. Triangles and survival knives, if you follow Heinlein. I think the logical evolution here would be a slide rule that was also a knife.

Also, hipsters are only concerned with “arts” or “media.” I don’t think they have the wherewithal to learn an antiquated system for the sake of doing trigonometry. You don’t need any serious math to publish your own underground magazine that’s all about your balls.

But seriously, I remember a couple months ago watching a news piece about some schools here getting kids to learn on the abacus. After a while the kids wouldn’t even need the abacus and just visualize it and be able to carry out calculations out of thin air. At first I thought this was one of those stupid new teaching fads that are going to ruin kids even more, kind of like “new math,” but now it seems like a great idea. I’m thinking analog, tactile devices make more sense to the human brain (at least for the purposes of learning) than memorizing stuff out of a book, then punching it in a calculator. Not that I’m even considering actually ditching the calculator for a ruler, but for where my brain is at, analog is going to make the connections in my brain a lot better.

It looks like these things have a bit of a cult following, which is neat. A major seller of new slide rules just happens to be a short drive from me, and their website is adorable.

I just can’t decide which one to get at this point. I didn’t know they were this complicated!

Anyway, besides that I have a short story coming up, and yes, it’s of course a prequel-ish Blightcross-related piece. And that’s all, really.

I wish I had more time to write. The projects in my notebook are piling up at an alarming rate.