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Three scales and a straight edge.
Also known as: Nomograph, Alignment chart
The graphical calculating chart on which a line drawn across scales reads off a result.
Relates three or more quantities so that a straight line across the scales gives a solution.
Contexts: Mathematics, Technical drawing
Encodes the equation in the geometry of the scales, so a nomogram is a physical object that can only compute the one relation it was drawn for and computes it without the user knowing the formula.
Contexts: Mathematics, Technical drawing
Survives in clinical and engineering use where a fixed relation must be applied quickly and reliably by someone who is not calculating.
Contexts: Mathematics, Technical drawing
Two or more graduated scales drawn as parallel or curved lines, with a straight edge laid across them cutting each at the value it relates.