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One of the main historical motivations of introducing logarithms is the formula = + , by which tables of logarithms allow multiplication and division to be reduced to addition and subtraction, a great aid to calculations before the invention of computers.
Logarithms can be used to make calculations easier. For example, two numbers can be multiplied just by using a logarithm table and adding. These are often known as logarithmic properties, which are documented in the table below. [2] The first three operations below assume that x = b c and/or y = b d, so that log b (x) = c and log b (y) = d.
Logarithm tables can be used to divide two numbers, by subtracting the two numbers' logarithms, then looking up the antilogarithm of the result. Division can be calculated with a slide rule by aligning the divisor on the C scale with the dividend on the D scale. The quotient can be found on the D scale where it is aligned with the left index on ...
A logarithmic unit is a unit that can be used to express a quantity (physical or mathematical) on a logarithmic scale, that is, as being proportional to the value of a logarithm function applied to the ratio of the quantity and a reference quantity of the same type. The choice of unit generally indicates the type of quantity and the base of the ...
The natural logarithm of a number is its logarithm to the base of the mathematical constant e, which is an irrational and transcendental number approximately equal to 2.718 281 828 459. [1] The natural logarithm of x is generally written as ln x, log e x, or sometimes, if the base e is implicit, simply log x.
An important property of base-10 logarithms, which makes them so useful in calculations, is that the logarithm of numbers greater than 1 that differ by a factor of a power of 10 all have the same fractional part. The fractional part is known as the mantissa. [b] Thus, log tables need only show the fractional part. Tables of common logarithms ...
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Logarithmic number systems have been independently invented and published at least three times as an alternative to fixed-point and floating-point number systems. [1]Nicholas Kingsbury and Peter Rayner introduced "logarithmic arithmetic" for digital signal processing (DSP) in 1971.