Comment by c22

My grandfather was a computational meteorologist for the US Air Force who passed when I was a kid. I inherited both his slide rule and his laptop (a 486dx with a math coprocessor!) It felt cool being the only kid at the school with a laptop, but the slide rule languished in a box under my bed until I got it out and figured out how to work it in college. I wish I'd figured it out sooner because it gave a more visceral understanding of the mathematical relationships that I'd been lacking before. Granted, the slide rule has sat mostly idle since then, but it was definitely worth it. I'd encourage you to give it a go.