logarithm
[law-guh-rith-uh m, -rith-, log-uh-]
- 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).
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Origin of logarithm
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
numeralnumericalarithmeticbinaryexponentfractionfractionalintegralmathematicalstatisticalalgebraicalgorithmicarithmeticaldifferentialdigitalexponentiallogarithmlogarithmicnumeraryintegratedExamples from the Web for logarithm
Historical Examples
That was short for logarithm, you know, because I was such a log at arithmetic.
Adam Johnstone's SonF. Marion Crawford
The complement of the logarithm of a sine, tangent, or secant.
The Sailor's Word-BookWilliam Henry Smyth
It seems that gravitation is not truth, but only the logarithm of it.
A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I (of II)Augustus De Morgan
To find the logarithm of 2, Briggs raised it to the tenth power, viz.
For example, suppose the logarithm of 543839 required to twelve places.
logarithm
- the exponent indicating the power to which a fixed number, the base, must be raised to obtain a given number or variable. It is used esp to simplify multiplication and division: if a x = M, then the logarithm of M to the base a (written log a M) is xOften shortened to: log See also common logarithm, natural logarithm
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Word Origin
C17: from New Latin logarithmus, coined 1614 by John Napier, from Greek logos ratio, reckoning + arithmos number
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for logarithm
n.
1610s, Modern Latin logarithmus, coined by Scottish mathematician John Napier (1550-1617), literally "ratio-number," from Greek logos "proportion, ratio, word" (see logos) + arithmos "number" (see arithmetic).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
logarithm
[lô′gə-rĭð′əm]
- 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
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