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logarithm

lo·ga·rithm

UK/ˈlɒɡ.ə.ɹɪ.ð(ə)m/ US/ˈlɔɡ.ə.ɹɪ.ð(ə)m/ uncommon

noun

1.

Origin

From New Latin logarithmus, coined by Scottish mathematician John Napier from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “ratio, proportion”) and ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”). Napier set a geometric progression (a sequence of equal ratios) against an arithmetic progression (a sequence of equal differences), so that the logarithm of a number counts the ratios separating it from a starting value, turning multiplication into addition.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.