logarithm

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the exponent to which a specified base must be raised to produce a given number

   The base-ten logarithm of one thousand is three because ten cubed equals one thousand.

From New Latin logarithmus, coined by Scottish mathematician John Napier from Greek logos ("reckoning, ratio") + arithmos ("number"). Napier introduced logarithms in the early seventeenth century to turn difficult multiplication and division into addition and subtraction.

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