Logarithmic Functions
Logarithms were developed in the 17th century by the Scottish mathematician, John Napier. They were a clever method of reducing long multiplications into much simpler additions (and reducing divisions into subtractions). Young Johnny Napier had to help his dad, who was a tax collector. Johnny got sick of multiplying and dividing large numbers all day and devised logarithms to make his life easier.
The use of logarithms made trigonometry and many other fields of mathematics much simpler to calculate.
When calculus was developed later in the century, logarithms became central to many solutions. Today, logarithms are still important in many fields of science and engineering, even though we use calculators for most simple calculations.
Learn more about logarithmic functions below.
Practice: Answer the following exercises about logarithmic functions.