LOGARITHMS
Noun
logarithms
plural of logarithm
Anagrams
• algorithms, mithralogs
Source: Wiktionary
LOGARITHM
Log"a*rithm, n. Etym: [Gr. logarithme.] (Math.)
Definition: One of a class of auxiliary numbers, devised by John Napier, of
Merchiston, Scotland (1550-1617), to abridge arithmetical
calculations, by the use of addition and subtraction in place of
multiplication and division.
Note: The relation of logarithms to common numbers is that of numbers
in an arithmetical series to corresponding numbers in a geometrical
series, so that sums and differences of the former indicate
respectively products and quotients of the latter; thus
0 1 2 3 4 Indices or logarithms 1 10 100 1000 10,000 Numbers in
geometrical progression Hence, the logarithm of any given number is
the exponent of a power to which another given invariable number,
called the base, must be raised in order to produce that given
number. Thus, let 10 be the base, then 2 is the logarithm of 100,
because 102 = 100, and 3 is the logarithm of 1,000, because 103 =
1,000. Arithmetical complement of a logarithm, the difference between
a logarithm and the number ten.
– Binary logarithms. See under Binary.
– Common logarithms, or Brigg's logarithms, logarithms of which the
base is 10; -- so called from Henry Briggs, who invented them.
– Gauss's logarithms, tables of logarithms constructed for
facilitating the operation of finding the logarithm of the sum of
difference of two quantities from the logarithms of the quantities,
one entry of those tables and two additions or subtractions answering
the purpose of three entries of the common tables and one addition or
subtraction. They were suggested by the celebrated German
mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss (died in 1855), and are of great
service in many astronomical computations.
– Hyperbolic, or Napierian, logarithms, those logarithms (devised
by John Speidell, 1619) of which the base is 2.7182818; -- so called
from Napier, the inventor of logarithms.
– Logistic or Proportionallogarithms., See under Logistic.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition