So as I understand the concept, logarithms used to help perform arithmetic with large numbers that is so often crucial to science. I also understand that logarithms "step down" multiplication to addition, division to subtraction, etc. But what I don't understand is: how did they step the result back up? Even with base 10 logarithms, the result would often be a number with a fractional part, so getting the result wouldn't be as easy as writing a bunch of zeroes after a one. So something is missing in this picture.
Well, next time you yell at your computer for taking a little long with an operation, be grateful you have a computer at all. |
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