# ID this sci-fi story about doing math the long way **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115 "2003-08-23T07:05:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/1 "2003-08-23T07:05:32Z")
Someone was telling me about this and it sounds interesting. Possibly by Asimov, but that was just a guess. Written when pocket calculators were just coming out. In the story (which takes place in the future), everyone has a calculator, and assumes that when you want to do math of any kind, you use a calculator, until someone discovers that math can be done by hand with pencil and paper. Nobody remembers this “ancient” method, so they think it’s novel and amazing. Sound familiar? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/2 "2003-08-23T07:22:49Z")
I think you’re talking about “The Feeling of Power,” a short story by Asimov. A future scientist re-discovers a way to do multiplications by hand. He thinks it’s just an idle curiosity but the military finds out, and applies it to weapons technology. Big guidance computers on interstellar (?) missiles can now be replaced by men using pencil and paper. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/3 "2003-08-23T07:39:27Z")
I recall a short story where a spaceship is investigating a comet or somesuch. The computer burns out and the calculations to safely navigate out are impossible to do manually, or so they think - fortunately one of the crew knows how to use an abacus. He teaches everyone on the ship to use one, and they use the crew as one huge abacus team to do the navigational math. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/4 "2003-08-23T08:10:24Z")
That second one is “Into the Comet” by Arthur C. Clarke. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/5 "2003-08-23T11:25:58Z")
“The Feeling of Power” came out in 1957, so it was published about two decades before pocket calculators became common. Like most supposedly clever stories with future predictions, it’s actually not very good prediction. If you read it carefully, you’ll see that it’s predicting that it will take hundreds of years for computers to be minaturized enough to have pocket calculators. One plot point in it is that, hundreds of years from now, computers will still be so large that you could get better navigation of a missile from a person doing paper calculations than from a computer weighing the same as that person. And look at the social situations in the story. They aren’t any extrapolation beyond 1950’s society. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/6 "2003-08-23T13:07:02Z")
The fist thing I thought when I read the OP was “So who programs these calculators, if nobody understands basic mathematical principles?” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*“The Feeling of Power” came out in 1957, so it was published about two decades before pocket calculators became common. Like most supposedly clever stories with future predictions, it’s actually not very good prediction. If you read it carefully, you’ll see that it’s predicting that it will take hundreds of years for computers to be minaturized enough to have pocket calculators. \*\* In his review of “Apollo 13,” which came out in 1995, Roger Ebert noted the computer he was writing on had more computing power than the computers used to guide the Saturn V rockets to the Moon. And now they’re making PDAs almost as powerful as the desktop PCs from 1995. I remember ooing and aahing over a college friend’s 1 Gb harddrive and 128 Mbs of RAM at around that time. Pretty soon, my watch will be powerful enough to steer a guided missile. Just wait. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/7 "2003-08-23T14:03:00Z")
OTOH, “The Feeling of Power” _coined_ the term “pocket calculator.” ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/8 "2003-08-23T14:59:10Z")
Well, while we’re on the subject of forgetting technological knowledge, does any of you remember a story about people in a giant spaceship who have forgotten about science? They are still teaching ‘physics’, but it has been transformed to a religion (gravitional attraction is a metaphor for love etc.) without real understanding. The story is about a young hero who finds out the real nature of their spaceship and religion. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/9 "2003-08-23T15:50:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, while we’re on the subject of forgetting technological knowledge, does any of you remember a story about people in a giant spaceship who have forgotten about science? They are still teaching ‘physics’, but it has been transformed to a religion (gravitional attraction is a metaphor for love etc.) without real understanding. The story is about a young hero who finds out the real nature of their spaceship and religion. That sounds like it might be “Universe” by Robert Heinlein. The part I remember best from that story was the two-headed mutant. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/10 "2003-08-23T17:20:36Z")
Another Heinlein character was “Slipstick” Libby, so-named because his incredible prowess with a slide rule made piloting the rocketship possible. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/11 "2003-08-23T17:38:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\*Another Heinlein character was “Slipstick” Libby, so-named because his incredible prowess with a slide rule made piloting the rocketship possible. \*\* I don’t think he used an actual slide rule. It’s “Slipstick Libby” as in “human slide rule”. ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/12 "2003-08-23T17:56:07Z")
I remember a Heinlein novel called “Orphans of the Sky” which involved a colony ship where the people had forgotten life outside the ship. Someone finds his way to a window, leading him to understand the nature of their world. The story also had mutants in it as a distinguishing point. Is that it, _Tusculan_? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/13 "2003-08-23T18:08:38Z")
_Universe_ is _Orphans of the Sky_ (or at least part of it, or the other way around), and yes, it’s the story **Tusculan** was thinking of. And wasn’t the term “pocket calculator” coined in _Foundation_, not “The Feeling of Power”? In one of the opening chapters, Seldon uses one. Either way, though, it’s Asimov. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/14 "2003-08-23T18:42:46Z")
Thanks, guys. Actually I’d forgotten about the mutants, but it does ring a bell. IIRC they were banished to the lower decks. ---
**Author:** ![Mearl\_Dox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Mearl\_Dox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mearl_Dox)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/15 "2003-08-23T19:17:46Z")
Upper decks, actually, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/16 "2003-08-23T20:11:01Z")
Upper decks… let’s see; the generation starship involved was a giant rotating cylinder with many levels, so the “upper decks” were closer to the axis of the vessel, and closer to the radioactive power source. If I recall, Heinlein cleverly made it ambiguous whether the “muties” were so called because of their high rate of mutations, or because they were the descendants of banished mutineers. Haven’t read the book in about thirty years. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/17 "2003-08-24T01:27:45Z")
The text of “The Feeling of Power” is on the web at a couple of sites. Google to find it if you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/18 "2003-08-24T19:56:07Z")
The upper decks also had lower gravity and more severe Coriolis effects, so the lower-deck protagonist finds that he can’t aim a sling as well as he should, up there. Less desireable real estate, all around… But also better access to the control room and other technology. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/19 "2003-08-24T21:24:09Z")
Didn’t Brian Aldiss write a similar generation-ship story? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115/20 "2003-08-25T03:14:06Z")
Lots of people have written generation ship stories. It’s a pretty common science fictional idea. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-sci-fi-story-about-doing-math-the-long-way/197115.md?page=2)