Please note: In order to keep Hive up to date and provide users with the best features, we are no longer able to fully support Internet Explorer. The site is still available to you, however some sections of the site may appear broken. We would encourage you to move to a more modern browser like Firefox, Edge or Chrome in order to experience the site fully.

Supporting your high street Find out how »
The Daring Invention of Logarithm Tables : How Jost B?rgi, John Napier, and Henry Briggs simplified arithmetic and started the computing revolution, Paperback / softback Book

The Daring Invention of Logarithm Tables : How Jost B?rgi, John Napier, and Henry Briggs simplified arithmetic and started the computing revolution Paperback / softback

Paperback / softback

Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours

Description

In the early 17th century, both Jost Burgi and John Napier dared to invent a logarithm table whose construction required tens of thousands of computing steps.

These tables reduced computing effort for multiplication and division by an order of magnitude.

Indeed, their invention launched a computing revolution that continues to this day.

The book tells the story of Burgi's and Napier's work, and how Henry Briggs built on Napier's idea, creating a table of logarithms that was easier to use.

John Napier and Henry Briggs described their methods in detail; distribution of their results was widespread.

In contrast, Jost Burgi did not leave detailed records of his work.

Just a few copies of his table and terse handwritten instructions for its use have survived.

To fill this gap, the book reconstructs Burgi's thinking leading up to his table.

The reader looks over his shoulder, so to speak, and learns how Burgi came upon the idea, how he decided on the specific format of the table, and how his instructions should be interpreted. And so the reader experiences the magic of the invention of logarithms.

The final chapters examine the question "Who invented logarithms?".

For centuries, few people were aware of Burgi's work; John Napier was considered to be the sole inventor.

This changed at the middle of the 19th century when Jost Burgi's work became more widely known.

Since then there has been extensive debate whether Burgi should be considered an independent co-inventor.

Careful parsing of the history of logarithm going back to Archimedes of antiquity then reveals that, without doubt, John Napier and Jost Burgi are independent co-inventors of logarithms.

Information

Other Formats

£7.89

Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours
Add to Basket
Sign in to add to wishlist
 
Free Home Delivery

on all orders

 
Pick up orders

from local bookshops

Information