A slide rule is a manually operated calculating instrument composed of graduated rulers that slide relative to one another, where logarithmic scale alignments translate multiplication, division, powers, roots, and trigonometric operations into linear distances. It persists through engineering workshops, technical training curricula, and museum collections as a pre-electronic computational tool. [formal: regulae scalae | substrate: behavior | horizon: hours | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
slide rule
A slide rule is a manually operated calculating instrument composed of graduated rulers that slide relative to one another, where logarithmic scale alignments translate multiplication, division, powers, roots, and trigonometric operations…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made calculating instrument consisting of scaled rulers that slide past each other, using logarithmic scales to perform multiplication, division, roots, and trigonometric functions. Built to persist through engineering practice, education, and the history of computation.
Names and aliases
- slide ruleen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmr98h9fl008khcxfwebiv8rnINSTANCE_OF →
A slide rule is a specific kind of tool — a mechanical computing device that extends human calculation capacity. A competent speaker would say 'a slide rule is a tool.' Nearest kind: tool.
- cmrwraj00012csoaclnxvq1ekDEPENDS_ON →
Direction tested: DEPENDS_ON (remove Y — does X stop operating?). A slide rule operates by aligning logarithmic scales; without the concept of logarithms, the device has no mechanism and cannot function. This is a present-tense operational dependency, not historical.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 22, 2026, 11:06 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 0e26fa109ea116fe5b0a496a1150e728e09fe567bfcf51cf6505bdc575aa5f45