slide rule

noun

Definition of slide rule

: a manual device used for calculation that consists in its simple form of a ruler and a movable middle piece which are graduated with similar logarithmic scales

Examples of slide rule in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web But even without a pocket calculator or slide rule, Cassidy is sensitive to the need for more even-strength production. — Kevin Paul Dupont, BostonGlobe.com, "Approaching quarter mark of season, Bruins need to improve 5-on-5 scoring," 7 Feb. 2021 That was a bit of this stereotype of the Asian with a slide rule. — David Marchese, New York Times, "Yo-Yo Ma and the Meaning of Life," 20 Nov. 2020 Though Johnson herself never ventured into the cosmos, her formulas—scrawled on paper with a pencil and a slide rule—will continue to power spaceflight for decades to come. — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, "Smithsonian Curators Remember Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician Highlighted in ‘Hidden Figures,’ Who Died at 101," 24 Feb. 2020 With little more than a pencil and a slide rule, Katherine Johnson calculated the trajectories that in 1969 let Apollo 11 land on the moon and return to Earth. — Hiroko Masuike, New York Times, "Coronavirus, Weinstein, Kobe Bryant: Your Monday Evening Briefing," 24 Feb. 2020 Johnson and her colleagues used only a slide rule, pencils, and a desktop calculator to calculate the path needed to get astronauts to the moon and to bring the group back home safely. — Madison Dibble, Washington Examiner, "NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson dies at 101 after lifetime of shattering gender and racial barriers," 24 Feb. 2020 Hers was a labor not of scheduling or cleaning but rather of mathematics: using a slide rule or mechanical calculator in complex calculations to check the work of her superiors — engineers who, unlike her, were white and male. — Harrison Smith, BostonGlobe.com, "Katherine Johnson, ‘hidden figure’ at NASA during 1960s space race, dies at 101," 24 Feb. 2020 Hers was a labor not of scheduling or cleaning but rather of mathematics: using a slide rule or mechanical calculator in complex calculations to check the work of her superiors — engineers who, unlike her, were white and male. — Harrison Smith, Washington Post, "Katherine Johnson, ‘hidden figure’ at NASA during 1960s space race, dies at 101," 24 Feb. 2020 Think of an armillary sphere like a circular slide rule with four separate axes. — Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, "This Is the Only Working Armillary Sphere on Earth," 2 Jan. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'slide rule.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.