Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by yuubi 3751 days ago
The other side from the vector adder ("front" side at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/StudentE... ) includes a circular slide rule with perfectly normal log scales for fuel, time, distance calculations, an extra scale to help with hours/minutes conversions, and some marks for various conversion factors, including lb/gal fuel and lb/gal oil for use in weight/balance.

The main difference between a straight and circular rule is that it has only one appearance of the index, so you don't have to move the slide around as much, and it's round so the equivalent of a 10" rule has around 3" diameter.

It also has other scales for converting altimeter/airspeed (really pressure gauge) readings into other numbers more useful for certain purposes like true altitude (good for missing obstructions) and "density altitude" (for estimating takeoff performance, also helpful for missing obstructions).

1 comments

This is amazing. The idea of converting units of multiple types in a hurry when it matters with a slide or circular rule in imperial units is terrifying. Somehow doing that in metric seems less so, but the fact that the system got people to the moon relatively recently is still amazing.