Word of the Day: logarithm

logarithm (law-guh-rith-uhm) - noun

A logarithm is "the exponent of the power to which a base number must be raised to equal a given number."

First used in the written form around 1605–1615.  Greek logos had a remarkably wide spread of meanings, ranging from "speech, saying" to "reason, reckoning, calculation," and "ratio."  The more verbal end of its spectrum has given English the suffixes -logue and -logy (as in dialogue, tautology, etc.), while the "reasoning" component has contributed logic (from the Greek derivative logike), logistic (from the Greek derivative logistikos, meaning "of calculation") and logarithm, coined in the early 17th century by the English mathematician John Napier from Greek logos (ratio) and arithmos (number) - the source of English arithmetic.

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