logarithm

Their functions included computing higher-order multiplications, exponents and logarithms, among other mathematical operations.

In 1881, astronomer Simon Newcomb noticed that early pages of logarithm tables, which correspond to numbers beginning with one, were grubby and worn compared with the pristine later pages.

But unlike logarithms or formulas, there was no registry for sequences of numbers.

Here’s the conversion formula the scientists came up with: Human age is equal to 16 multiplied by the natural logarithm of the dog’s age, plus 31.

To accommodate the vast size differences, the researchers divided classes using a mathematical function called a logarithm: the average weight of organisms in one class differed by a factor of 10 from adjacent classes.