Slide rules rule - and you can still get them new

[Mechanical Menace]

Are there studies about it?

Through what I've seen it's the practising of mental arithmetic that matters in those areas more than what tools are used to make it easier. When learning a bead board will help just as much as an abacus, an abacus will help just as much as doing it in your head, etc, etc. Which one is best for you depends mainly on which you prefer.

Abacuses do have a major role which seems to be hard to replace with another tool when teaching the blind though.

[atferrari]

I still recall the bank clerks in Japan, doing calculations with their (electronic) calculators and then, checking them immediately with the soroban. Hard to distinguish what each finger was doing, moving fast up and down.

[zapta]

I still recall the bank clerks in Japan, doing calculations with their (electronic) calculators and then, checking them immediately with the soroban. Hard to distinguish what each finger was doing, moving fast up and down.

A soroban is digital and thus precise. A slide rule is analog and is subjected to noise.

[German_EE]

Noise is not the problem with a slide rule, it's resolution. Working to three figures behind the decimal point requires some effort on the part of the owner.

[Blofeld]

Hmm youtube seems to have tons of videos how to use one. Should probably get one in future, just in case civilization collapses or something.

Or get one of these babies:

[atferrari]

I still recall the bank clerks in Japan, doing calculations with their (electronic) calculators and then, checking them immediately with the soroban. Hard to distinguish what each finger was doing, moving fast up and down.

A soroban is digital and thus precise. A slide rule is analog and is subjected to noise.

My comment is not a comparison. Just a simple recollection.

[smjcuk]

The most useful bit of a slide rule is the log, trig scales. The rest you can do in your head pretty easily.

I managed to match slide rule calculation speed with a pencil and paper thanks to a month stuck on holiday in Switzerland with no one who spoke English, without a slide rule, without a calculator and only a copy of "Mathematics for the practical man" and "arithmetic for the practical man" to read (both early 1900s public domain and damn good so google them )

Soroban - useless toy.