> > Unfortunately through 4 years of college and most of high school the
current generations
> > of engineers has been trained on the multi-line variety which are
> > prohibited.


That's really unfair. Our slide rules had multiple lines on them (exactly
how many depends on what you count).

Never used an abacus in anger. Had (have?) a toyish obe somewhere that was
real enough to allow multiplication with a little effort.
The abacus has the advantage of being digital and therefore exact whereas a
slide rule is analogue and therefore inexact - but amnable to far more
complex functionality than an abacus with ease.

.

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.