Welcome

Welcome to this collection of papers I wrote on historical calculating machines and mathematical instruments. Most of them have appeared in Dutch in the "Mededelingen en Informatie voor Rekenlinialenverzamelaars" (MIR) You might also be interested in original documents on calculating history or the Rechnerlexikon, a wikipedia for calculating devices, or the Oughtred Society. If you have any comments, please leave them in the form at the right.

Andries de Man



In some respects, slide rules played the role of today's smartphones, as demonstrated by this quote of Charles Kettering:

When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: "Leave slide rules here." If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it."