Abstract

The Deutsches Museum in Munich has an extensive collection of calculating devices. The main collection consists of mechanical slide rules from various manufacturers from the years 1870–1970. This includes a large number of special slide rules from technical fields, which formed the starting point for a research project at the museum. The article explores the professional context of selected objects which were used in scientific management, brewing and shipbuilding. Against this background, technical, economic and social factors promoting or inhibiting the integration of mathematical methods in the respective fields of work are identified. Finally, the examples are used to discuss the role of mathematics in the transformation of technical trades and professions during the period of high industrialization.