Thank goodness, no. My math sucks as well as my measuring! I've touched one once though. LOL

No I never had to in school. What math classes would have required them? . I took algebra and geometry and we did not use one so maybe in trigonometry?
I have picked one up and tried to figure out how they worked once though.

What were those white triangle shaped rulers called? I always struggled with them!

Slide rulers were used for trigonometry, calculus and other higher mathematics. I was too dumb for them. You could always tell who the smart kids were because they carried slide rulers around with them either in their shirt pockets or in a holder on their belts. The triangle rulers were draft rulers used to draw objects to scale. Each side had two scales as in i inch equals one foot and one half inch equals one foot. I loved them because I was into drafting while in shop class in junior high. I loved doing blueprints of houses. Came up with very weird designs.

Are you kidding?? I can barely run a calculator. My daughter on the other hand is a math genius. Majored in Biology and minored in Chemestry.

What do they do that a regular ruler does not??

A slide rule was used to measure distances. It was used to solve mathematic problems. This was in the days before computers. Imagine this, we went to the moon using them. The computer on the lunar trips had the memory of a wrist watch.

Thanks Foxys. Math not my best subject and I do my husbands books LOL

Was NOT used to measure distances. Sorry about the omission.

Thanks again, figured that!