User:Milton Beychok/Sandbox: Difference between revisions
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=== Before the advent calculators and computers=== | === Before the advent calculators and computers=== | ||
The operations of addition and subtraction are much easier to perform than are the operations of multiplication and division. | The operations of addition and subtraction are much easier to perform than are the operations of multiplication and division. Logarithms were characterized by [[Pierre-Simon Laplace]], the [[France|French]] mathematician and astronmer, as "doubling the life of an astronomer". The [[Germany|German]] mathematician, [[Karl Friedrich Gauss]], who also did work in physics and astronomy, is said to have memorized a table of logarithms to save the time required to look up a logarithm each time he needed one. |
Revision as of 03:14, 2 November 2008
The importance of logarithms
The development of electronic calculators and computers in the mid-1900's reduced the importance of logarithms for computations but not the importance of logarithmic functions. Thus, we should discuss the importance of logarithms before and after the advent of electronic calculators and computers.
Before the advent calculators and computers
The operations of addition and subtraction are much easier to perform than are the operations of multiplication and division. Logarithms were characterized by Pierre-Simon Laplace, the French mathematician and astronmer, as "doubling the life of an astronomer". The German mathematician, Karl Friedrich Gauss, who also did work in physics and astronomy, is said to have memorized a table of logarithms to save the time required to look up a logarithm each time he needed one.