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Weren't logarithms originally developed by Napier and his successors specifically for the purpose of making multiplication easier? Ludgate's algorithm as writte
by nerdponx 3y ago
Weren't logarithms originally developed by Napier and his successors specifically for the purpose of making multiplication easier? Ludgate's algorithm as written here looks a lot like that.
- sksksndodj 3y agoLudgate's logarithms allow multiplication by addition of indices, but they are not derived from a base, and the indices are all whole numbers. It is an essentially empirical system, unlike the comparable Zech/Jacobi logarithms which are based on number theory.
- dan-robertson 3y agoLogarithms allow approximately multiplying numbers with several significant figures. This method compresses exact single-digit multiplication into three exact lookups (with log tables you would instead look for nearby entries) and one addition. Also unlike logarithms, the intermediate integers are quite meaningless. They are a bit like logarithms but severely fiddled with.
- quickthrower2 3y agoSeems a bit like a hand trained neural net overfitted on multiplication of single digit numbers.