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Instructions for Pickett Student Slide Rules

National Museum of American History
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Object Details

publisher
Pickett Industries
author
Hartung, Maurice L.
Description
Maurice L. Hartung, associate professor of the teaching of mathematics at the University of Chicago, wrote this sixteen-page pamphlet, How to Use Basic Slide Rules in 3 Easy Steps for Pickett & Eckel, a slide rule manufacturer established in Chicago in the late 1940s. Hartung advocated for the adoption of Pickett slide rules in schools, and he wrote several instruction manuals that the company reprinted and distributed through the 1960s.
The pamphlet uses drawings of slide rules and numerous "call-out" text boxes to explain how students could use the instrument's C and D scales to multiply and divide. The second part of the pamphlet explains the CI scale ("I" stands for "inverse"), provides instructions for finding squares and square roots with the A and B scales, and discusses the role of the K scale in finding cubes and cube roots. The third and final section of the pamphlet addresses logarithmic and trigonometric functions, which were found with the L, S, and T scales.
This copy was packaged with 1991.0445.02; of the scales explained in the instructions, this instrument lacked only the S and T scales for sines and tangents. If sold separately, the booklet would have cost 35 cents. The back of the pamphlet is marked: Pickett Inc.; Chicago 5 • SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA. It is also marked: Form M-20. The location and name of the company suggest the pamphlet was printed after 1964.
Reference: International Slide Rule Museum, "Pickett All-Metal Slide Rules," http://sliderulemuseum.com/SR_Dates.htm#Pickett. This site provides a scan of another copy of this pamphlet, http://sliderulemuseum.com/Manuals/M52_Pickett_HowToUseSR_3EasySteps_FormM-20.pdf.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Richard R. Lombardi
after 1964
ID Number
1991.0445.02.01
accession number
1991.0445
catalog number
1991.0445.02.01
Object Name
pamphlet
Physical Description
paper (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 22 cm x 14 cm; 8 21/32 in x 5 1/2 in
place made
United States: Illinois, Chicago
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Slide Rules
National Museum of American History
subject
Mathematics
Rule, Calculating
Education
Record ID
nmah_904591
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-5c53-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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Instructions for Pickett Student Slide Rules.
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