Old High School friends of mine just posted some Facebook comments on “ancient” technology they still possessed, and it caused me to think back about my old devices. Brian mentioned that he still had his father’s old slide rule (and could still use it), which was quite cool! Some of the people reading this post may not know what a slide rule is, though. Check it out on Wikipedia: Slide Rule. For the record: I haven’t forgotten how to use a slide rule, either.
My very first scientific calculator was the Berkey 4030, which I purchased back in 1975 for $110, which is about $470 in 2012 dollars: