I never 'mastered' a slide rule but could use it for simple stuff. I was always intrigued with logs. I liked the way they worked and then there were antilogs for allowing the answers to be shewn in decimal.
After Her Majesty required some service time out of me I worked for a computer company and apart from the binary system we expressed 6 bit numbers in Octal (base 8) then the French landed us with a machine that counted 4 bit numbers as 1-2-4-(minus 2) can you believe it!
On the way to reduce the number of cycle times to do a multiplication we had what was referred to as the Russian method. This involved the Multiplicand being doubled as the Multiplier was halved and the odd answers stored to be added later.
Visualising this when fault finding was strangely satisfying, this went on for many years until computers started to assess faults with in themselves and as long ago as 1980.
It was attending a computer fault where a standard computer had an extended mathematical unit connected (it was calculating stresses for London Bridge which was undergoing repairs at the time).
Instructions were to press an otherwise indicator button, a stream of characters was printed out and these were used to trace a Q & A path through the associated book and it indicated which PCB was at fault, it was replaced and the computer was fixed. The unit used high-level mathematical functions using Floating Point arithmetic. No! I did not understand it either!.
I moved a bit up and a bit on after that experience.
Roy

@EdW
It's in the blood

@RossM I have used both types of slide rule and recently gave my straight one to my grand daughter. She has mastered the basics and says she will treasure the rule.

@roycv I never saw anything like that in my youth Roy, but fortunately I was around at the start of affordable radio control and so I was able to enjoy my boat modelling with some degree of “remote control” in the 1960’s.

……but much in the same way as I missed the RTP powered ic car racing, I also regret never being able to see the RTP power boat racing.

The closest I got to RTP anything was with my control line model aircraft - and I enjoyed taking part in that and going to the “nationals” at RAF Hullavington to see how it really should be done!

The control line Speed aircraft were incredible as were the Team Racing events.

The skill level needed to fly the flying wing Combat Aircraft was more like having a super speed reflex, and the scale carrier landing was quite intersting too.

…..and the large Stunt aircraft like The Nobbler in action were a sight to behold.

Bob.

We used to host RTP racing at Verulamium Park (St. Albans) back in the day. There were several speed records set there over the years. The international racing finally came to a stop when the Avian Flu was spreading among the wild life and the local hotels etc refused to allow the boats and wet clothes into the premises.
It used to attract attention due to the noise levels and to hear a steam powered racer at full chat (70 mph) is quite something. You always get the detractors who liked to see danger where there is none.

On one of the previous model boat web sites a guy had decided the covers on the steam boats housed unsafe boilers at enormous pressure and had invented for himself an explosive scenario. It took me a while plus photographs to convince him, first there was no boiler involved at enormous pressure, but just a long tube coiled to surround a blowlamp. water entered at one end and exited into the engine, so the 'boiler' had a hole at each end.

This was the era of the tethered hydroplanes running on Flash Steam! Launching was an art you had to stay outsides the circle and hurl the boat away but still maintain tension on the line. When you decided full speed was on you lowered your upraised arm and then the time for 3 laps was noted. When finished you had a stick to knock a light wire down on the boat and it turned off the fuel.

Then of course there were the wild life fans! So concerned for their welfare! But the wild life just sat outside the tethered ring and watched probably wishing their mate could maintain a similar speed, something that had been going on since the 1930s. Some how the current population had survived it all!

Don't get me wrong I like wild life and I recall in my more agile days rescuing a duck which had a beer drinkers discard plastic ring stuck around it's neck. A friend distracted her and I dived to grab her, (wish I could still do that!) Gently removed the plastic and disposed of it in the garbage. She never even said a thank you!
Roy

@ChrisF
I went all through an engineering degree with my slide rule. I still have it and can still use it. I bought my first calculator in November 1974 a few months after graduating.

@RossM I always struggled with them at school despite being good at maths. Managed to answer the questions in the exams using them though but never used them again after that.

@EdW
I saw the guy with the slide rule. I was a nerd 3 of them full size, half size and circular

The village that I spent my early years in had a couple of very large water tanks on at each end of the village.
left over from WWII because the village had both film studios and light industry the tanks were for firefighting.
As kids the I'm talking about the early 1950 served as.
Winter when frozen sledge rink
Winter when not frozen fishing
Summer swimming. fishing
The rest of the year model boat lake Col

@EdW That is brilliant Ed. 👍

Bob.

Oh happy days.