College mathmatices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

College mathmatices - Essay Example The value of 10 is used as a base because mathematicians have found that logarithms having a base of 10 were more useful for computations and they possessed many advantages that were not obtained in other bases. Common logarithms are denoted as log10(x) and even if there is no base written it should be assumed that the base is 10. If the base is other than 10 then it must be specified by the use of a subscript. On the other hand Natural logarithms use e as a base, where e is an irrational number whose decimal value is approximately 2.71828182845904. Natural logarithms are also important like common logarithms because of their relationship to e which is used in solving many differential equations in calculus. Natural logarithms are denoted by loge(x) or ln(x). Logarithms have eased up the way of calculation in mathematics. Recall that multiplication is a shortcut for addition and exponents are shortcut for multiplication, similarly logarithms are shortcut for exponents. John Napier a great mathematician will never be forgotten for his great discoveries, formulas, and theories. He once said that I hope my logarithms will save calculators much time and free them from slippery errors of calculations. Laplace said 200 years later said, "By shortening the labors, Napier doubled the life of astronomers" (as cited in Petersen, n.d.). Logarithms play a crucial role in the field of sciences and engineering. They can help you out whenever there is an exponential component missing in the problem. We can find several applications of logarithms in astronomy, geology, computer science, chemistry, physics, and several other disciplines. In chemistry we have a concept of pH which determines whether the whether a substance is alkaline, neutral, or acidic in nature depending if pH is greater than, equal to, or less than 7 respectively. A substance with a pH of 5 is ten times as acidic as one with a pH of 6 that’s why pH scale is expressed by a common logarithm. If H+ is the