Who invented logarithm?

The method of logarithms was publicly propounded by John Napier in 1614, in a book titled Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (Description of the Wonderful Rule of Logarithms).Joost Bürgi constructed a table of powers with a basis very close to 1, and this table provides a fine correspondence between the integers 1-10 (or 10-100, etc.) and exponents that can be added. This table was printed (but perhaps not published) in 1620. However, Bürgi did not define an abstract continuous function as Napier did, and he also did not work out the accuracy of interpolations, which was also tackled by Napier

Johannes Kepler, who used logarithm tables extensively to compile his Ephemeris and therefore dedicated it to Napier,

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21 Comments

Fred Mayes

As an engineering student we did not feel logarithms were useless. Mind you this was prior to calculators. We carried our log books everywhere and kept our sliderules (also based on logarithms) on our belts. No multiple choice quizes back then either. You young whippersnappers have it easy.

Georgia Kemp

The only John Napier I know of is an author.

Mark Gavin

Napier was a brilliant man, but he did not INVENT logarithms. The relationship of numbers, logarithms and exponents is a natural order of the universe. Napier certainly was first to explain logs or to use them in published works, but that is not what the question asked.