Slide Rules and Nut-Crackers

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 14:00:00 +0100

The discussion “Is there anyone here who still uses slide rules?” on Hacker News reminded me of the children’s maths/puzzle book Nut-Crackers (1971) I once had, with cut-out paper slide rule at the back - and set me re-visiting what other mathematical games it had contained.

I Can (Still) Do The Cube: revisiting Rubik's classic puzzle

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 16:30:00 +0100

When I was a child in the 1980s, I had a Rubik’s Cube and a copy of Patrick Bossert’s book “You Can Do The Cube” - and carefully following the instructions, it indeed turned out that I could.

So when we recently found ourselves with a Cube keyring, I wondered if I’d be able to do it again. An old copy of Bossert’s book was easy to find. Then, when I found that the quality of a mini Cube attached to a keyring isn’t always the best (any frustration should come from the solver, not the Cube itself, getting stuck!), I got a traditional full-sized model again. (Not a smartcube with Bluetooth, nor one with built-in magnets to help turns click exactly into place, which I learn are options now.)

Of course, the method still works. And once I was satisfied I still had a way to solve the Cube, I took a look around to see what other options are out there and how cubing has developed in the past 40 years…

Puzzles on Eclectic Stacks

Slide Rules and Nut-Crackers

I Can (Still) Do The Cube: revisiting Rubik's classic puzzle