Toot

Written by erou ⏚ on 2025-01-21 at 14:35

I just learned about Briggs' algorithm to compute logarithms. It's a simple yet powerful idea: if you want to compute log(x) and you know a and b such that

log(a) ≤ log(x) ≤ log(b)

then you can compute the geometric mean

y = √ab

and you know that

log(y) = (log(a)+log(b))/2.

Then you proceed by dichotomy until you are satisfied with the precision you have.

It was used in 1624 (!!) to compute the logarithms from 1 to 20 000 and 90 000 to 100 000 with 10 digits of precision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Briggs_(mathematician)

[#]math #maths

=> More informations about this toot | View the thread | More toots from erou@mathstodon.xyz

Mentions

Tags

=> View maths tag | View math tag