Logarithms

Discovered by: Logarithms were introduced by John Napier in 1614 as a means to simplify calculations.

What is it? In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse function to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a given number 'x' is the exponent to which another fixed number, the base 'b', must be raised, to produce that number 'x'.

Why is it important? Using logarithm tables, tedious multi-digit multiplication steps can be replaced by table look-ups and simpler addition. They were rapidly adopted by navigators, scientists, engineers, surveyors and others to perform high-accuracy computations more easily.