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logarithm
6 dictionary results for: logarithm
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
log·a·rithm 
[law-guh-rith-uhm, -rith-, log-uh-] Pronunciation Key
[law-guh-rith-uhm, -rith-, log-uh-] Pronunciation Key –noun Mathematics.
| the exponent of the power to which a base number must be raised to equal a given number; log: 2 is the logarithm of 100 to the base 10 (2 = log10 100). |
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| log·a·rithm
(lô'gə-rĭth'əm, lŏg'ə-) Pronunciation Key
n. Mathematics The power to which a base, such as 10, must be raised to produce a given number. If nx = a, the logarithm of a, with n as the base, is x; symbolically, logn a = x. For example, 103 = 1,000; therefore, log10 1,000 = 3. The kinds most often used are the common logarithm (base 10), the natural logarithm (base e), and the binary logarithm (base 2). [New Latin logarithmus : Greek logos, reason, proportion; see leg- in Indo-European roots + Greek arithmos, number; see ar- in Indo-European roots.] log'a·rith'mic (-rĭth'mĭk), log'a·rith'mi·cal (-mĭ-kəl) adj., log'a·rith'mi·cal·ly adv. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
logarithm
logarithm
1614, Mod.L. logarithmus, coined by Scot. mathematician John Napier (1550-1617), lit. "ratio-number," from Gk. logos "proportion, ratio, word" (see logos) + arithmos "number" (see arithmetic).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| logarithm | |
noun | |
| the exponent required to produce a given number |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
logarithm
(lô'gə-rĭ 'əm) Pronunciation Key
The power to which a base must be raised to produce a given number. For example, if the base is 10, then the logarithm of 1,000 (written log 1,000 or log10 1,000) is 3 because 103 = 1,000. See more at common logarithm, natural logarithm.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Logarithm
Log"a*rithm\ (l[o^]g"[.a]*r[i^][th]'m), n. [Gr. lo`gos word, account, proportion + 'ariqmo`s number: cf. F. logarithme.] (Math.) One of a class of auxiliary numbers, devised by John Napier, of Merchiston, Scotland (1550-1617), to abridge arithmetical calculations, by the use of addition and subtraction in place of multiplication and division. Note: The relation of logarithms to common numbers is that of numbers in an arithmetical series to corresponding numbers in a geometrical series, so that sums and differences of the former indicate respectively products and quotients of the latter; thus, 0 1 2 3 4 Indices or logarithms 1 10 100 1000 10,000 Numbers in geometrical progression Hence, the logarithm of any given number is the exponent of a power to which another given invariable number, called the base, must be raised in order to produce that given number. Thus, let 10 be the base, then 2 is the logarithm of 100, because 10^2 = 100, and 3 is the logarithm of 1,000, because 10^3 = 1,000. Arithmetical complement of a logarithm, the difference between a logarithm and the number ten. Binary logarithms. See under Binary. Common logarithms, or Brigg's logarithms, logarithms of which the base is 10; -- so called from Henry Briggs, who invented them. Gauss's logarithms, tables of logarithms constructed for facilitating the operation of finding the logarithm of the sum of difference of two quantities from the logarithms of the quantities, one entry of those tables and two additions or subtractions answering the purpose of three entries of the common tables and one addition or subtraction. They were suggested by the celebrated German mathematician Karl Friedrich Gauss (died in 1855), and are of great service in many astronomical computations. Hyperbolic, or Napierian, logarithms , those logarithms (devised by John Speidell, 1619) of which the base is 2.7182818; -- so called from Napier, the inventor of
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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