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Subject: Re: Towards a basis for Bruce Stark's Tables
From: Dan Allen (danallen46@XXX.XXX)
Date: Fri Jan 03 2003 - 22:02:29 EST
On Friday, January 3, 2003, at 04:55 PM, Bruce Stark wrote:
> I can't seem to find my book of trig and log tables by Gauss. But as I
> recall, the author's initials were not the same as the more famous
> Gauss.
> Still, though the addition and subtraction logs may have been
> published by a
> Gauss-number-two, Gauss-number-one may have invented them. I'd like to
> know.
From http://100.1911encyclopedia.org/L/LO/LOGARITHM.htm:
Addition and Subtraction, - or Gaussian Logarithms.—Gaussian logarithms
are intended to facilitate the finding of the logarithms of the sum and
difference of two numbers whose logarithms are known, the numbers
themselves being unknown; and on this account they are frequently
called addition and subtraction logarithms. The object of the table is
in fact to give log (a~b) by only one entry when log a and log b are
given. The utility of such logarithms was first pointed out by Leonelli
ma book entitled Supplement logarithmique, printed at Bordeaux in the
year XI. (180213); he calculated a table to 14 places, but only a
specimen of it which appeared in the Sup plCment was printed. The first
table that was actually published is due to Gauss, and was printed in
Zach’s Monatliche Correspondenz, xxvi. 498 (1812). Corresponding to the
argument log x it gives the values of log (I +x_i) and log (I +x).
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