Overview

Logarithms are of fundamental importance to an incredibly wide array of fields, including much of mathematics, physics, engineering, statistics, chemistry, and any areas using these disciplines. However, until the early seventeenth century, they were unknown. Invented by a Scottish amateur mathematician named John Napier (1550-1617) after 20 years of work, they were met with almost immediate acceptance by mathematicians and scientists alike. In the intervening centuries, logarithms and their converse, exponents, have proven to be among the most useful mathematical tools of all time.

Background

Arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) dates back to human prehistory. Of these most basic operations, addition and subtraction are relatively easy while multiplication and division are much more difficult to master. Until the Renaissance, however, mathematics and the sciences were not very dependent on mathematical calculation, and these difficulties, while vexing, were not insurmountable.

However, the...