Napier: Comparison: John Napier's Theory And Contributions
SEMRA ÖZAL THE HISTORY OF LOGARITHMS John Napier is a Scottish mathematician who lived from 1550 to 1617. He worked more than twenty years to improve his theory and tables of what he called logarithms. Napier called the theory logarithms, because he thought of them as “reckoning numbers”, namely to calculate an amount(Caulfield 2010). “The word he derived from two Greek roots: logos meaning word, or study, or reasoning, or in Napier’s use “reckoning” and aritmos meaning “number”.”[1] Napier lived during an age of great innovation of astronomy. He also published a book about solar system (1453). Many
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+ 1/2! + 1/3! + ... and that e is the limit of (1 + 1/n)n as n tends to infinity. Euler gave an approximation for e to 18 decimal places, e = 2.718281828459045235 “5
He calculated value himself, but there was no indication of how this was done.
In 1864 Benjamin Peirce had his picture taken standing in front of a blackboard on which he had written the formula i-i = √(eπ). In his lectures he would say to his students:
“Gentlemen, we have not the slightest idea what this equation means, but we may be sure that it means something very important.”5
The mathematician Hermite was the first person who proved the number e is not an algebraic number.5 After investigating the history of logartihm, knowing people who developed the idea of logarithm and understanding the process of the stage of the development about logarithmic function, we should take another step and research the subject of “What is logarithm”.
REFERENCES
1. http://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/john-napier-his-life-his-logs-and-his-bones
2. http://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/logarithms-the-early-history-of-a-familiar-function-introduction
3. Calderon R. A look at the history and uses of
+ 1/2! + 1/3! + ... and that e is the limit of (1 + 1/n)n as n tends to infinity. Euler gave an approximation for e to 18 decimal places, e = 2.718281828459045235 “5
He calculated value himself, but there was no indication of how this was done.
In 1864 Benjamin Peirce had his picture taken standing in front of a blackboard on which he had written the formula i-i = √(eπ). In his lectures he would say to his students:
“Gentlemen, we have not the slightest idea what this equation means, but we may be sure that it means something very important.”5
The mathematician Hermite was the first person who proved the number e is not an algebraic number.5 After investigating the history of logartihm, knowing people who developed the idea of logarithm and understanding the process of the stage of the development about logarithmic function, we should take another step and research the subject of “What is logarithm”.
REFERENCES
1. http://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/john-napier-his-life-his-logs-and-his-bones
2. http://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/logarithms-the-early-history-of-a-familiar-function-introduction
3. Calderon R. A look at the history and uses of