The Daring Invention of Logarithm Tables

*** This is the black and white edition. There is also a color edition. ***

In the early 17th century, both Jost Bürgi and John Napier dared to invent a logarithm table whose construction required tens of thousands of computing steps.

These tables reduced computing effort for multiplication and division by an order of magnitude. Indeed, their invention launched a computing revolution that continues to this day.

The book tells the story of Bürgi's and Napier's work, and how Henry Briggs built on Napier's idea, creating a table of logarithms that was easier to use.

John Napier and Henry Briggs described their methods in detail; distribution of their results was widespread.

In contrast, Jost Bürgi did not leave detailed records of his work. Just a few copies of his table and terse handwritten instructions for its use have survived.

To fill this gap, the book reconstructs Bürgi's thinking leading up to his table. The reader looks over his shoulder, so to speak, and learns how Bürgi came upon the idea, how he decided on the specific format of the table, and how his instructions should be interpreted. And so the reader experiences the magic of the invention of logarithms.

The final chapters examine the question "Who invented logarithms?". For centuries, few people were aware of Bürgi's work; John Napier was considered to be the sole inventor. This changed at the middle of the 19th century when Jost Bürgi's work became more widely known.

Since then there has been extensive debate whether Bürgi should be considered an independent co-inventor. Careful parsing of the history of logarithm going back to Archimedes of antiquity then reveals that, without doubt, John Napier and Jost Bürgi are independent co-inventors of logarithms.

This book is also available in German: Die wagemutige Erfindung der Logarithmentafeln