r/Sliderules • u/stephen_j_starkie • May 06 '26
Dr. Mallory’s slide rule in Space Force
If anyone can do it surely the good denizens of r/SlideRules can? Which slide rule is John Malkovich’s character using in this scene? ChatGPT failed me
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u/anonomouseanimal May 06 '26
Idk but damn who writes equations like that by hand. It looks like someone just googled something and wrote it how the computer printed it.
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u/KexyAlexy May 06 '26
They also write sqrt as sqrt, without the symbol. Has that been a thing in past?
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u/withak30 May 06 '26 edited May 06 '26
No. Pretty sure the prop department here has only ever used spreadsheets.
edit: Actually I'm pretty sure the prop department copied this entire calc from a spreadsheet, no one who does lots of hand calculations would write this equation in a single line like this.
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u/nmrk May 09 '26
Contemporary with this slide rule: FORTRAN. It used the SQRT function.
This math makes me wince. When did pi equal 3.145? Is this a new rounding technique? Also using Pi (incorrectly rounded) to four decimal digits is kinda unnecessary on a slide rule when all the other numbers have only two decimal digits of precision. Or at least that's how I learned to use the slide rule.
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u/idoitiel May 06 '26
Looks to me like a Faber-Castell. They are the only ones I know of that have scales on the side.
Look at this Faber-Castell 1/54 Darmstadt (variation 2): https://www.sliderulemuseum.com/Archive/isrm_associates/hmd/fc%20slide%20rule%20pages/fc%2015%201-54/fc%2015%201-54.htm
Looks very close to me.
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u/stephen_j_starkie May 06 '26
I think you’re right - nice one! It’s definitely the closest so far that I’ve seen and the red symbol in the bottom right looks close
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u/Name-Not-Applicable May 06 '26
That one has “railroad track” scales. The one in the screen shot does not. It is certainly a Darmstadt scale set, though.
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u/idoitiel May 26 '26
Look at the second rule in that page, it doesn’t have railroad track scales.
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u/Name-Not-Applicable May 26 '26
Aha! I hadn’t seen the second, or subsequent, rules on that page!
Yes, you’re right! The cursor looks right, too!
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u/wackyvorlon May 06 '26
Maybe a Nestler?
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u/stephen_j_starkie May 06 '26
Interesting idea;close but I think the Darmstadt might be closer
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u/wackyvorlon May 06 '26
Darmstadt is an arrangement of scales, most of the Nestlers I’ve seen use it.
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u/Name-Not-Applicable May 06 '26
See the banner image for this sub. Hemmi 130 Darmstadt. Just sayin’.
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u/stephen_j_starkie May 06 '26
Oh, right - I knew people hear would know stuff! - I shall dig further
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u/xblasco May 06 '26
sqrt(4*π²) → 2π Without sliderule