West Lafayette, IN -- Purdue University has a new exhibit of measurable proportions: Slide rules.

The university has added a permanent display of nearly 200 slide rules, many collected from alumni including astronauts Neil Armstrong and Jerry Ross.

James Alleman, a professor of civil engineering, started collecting the rules from Purdue alumni 15 years ago, and Robert Miles, a retired professor, helped build the display.

The collection includes a nine-foot long rule used in lecture halls and another rule designed to calculate the flow of sewage through a pipe.

Also in the display is the first calculator used at Purdue, the HP-35. Miles says, "We call them the 'nemesis' because they put slide rule makers out of business."

But you can't rule out the slide rule for everything. Miles says pilots still use slide rules to calculate flight paths.

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