Logarithm: 'Logarithm' was coined by John… | etymologist.ai
logarithm
/ˈlɒɡ.ə.ɹɪð.əm/·noun·1614·Established
Origin
Coined 1614 by Napier from Greek 'logos' (ratio) + 'arithmos' (number) — unrelated to 'algorithm' despite the similarity.
Definition
A quantity representing the power to which a fixed number (the base) must be raised to produce a given number.
The Full Story
Greek1614well-attested
Coined by the Scottish mathematician John Napier in his 1614 work 'Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio' (Description of the Wonderful Canon of Logarithms), from Greek 'logos' (λόγος, ratio, proportion, word, reason, discourse) + 'arithmos' (ἀριθμός, number). A logarithm is literally a 'ratio number' or 'proportional number' — a number that expresses the proportional relationship betweenarithmeticand geometric progressions. Napier's coinage was precise: his logarithms were explicitly defined in terms of ratios, not
Did you know?
'Logarithm' wascoined by John Napier in 1614 from Greek 'logos' (ratio) + 'arithmos' (number). It is NOT related to 'algorithm,' which comes from the name of the Persian mathematician al-Khwārizmī. The two words look alike and both involve mathematics, but their origins are
), and the suffix '-ology' (the study of). The term 'algorithm' is an Anglicisation of the name of the 9th-century Persian mathematician al-Khwārizmī, and is etymologically unrelated despite surface resemblance. Key roots: logos (Greek: "word, reason, ratio, proportion"), arithmos (Greek: "number").