logarithm

English

Etymology

From New Latin logarithmus, term coined by Scot mathematician John Napier from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word, reason”) and ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”); compare rational number, from analogous Latin.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑ.ɡə.ɹɪ.ð(ə)m/, /ˈlɑɡəɹ.ɹɪ.ðəm/, /ˈlɑɡ.ə.ɹɪðm/, /ˈlɑɡ.əɹ.ɹɪðm/
• Hyphenation: log‧a‧ri‧thm

Noun

logarithm (plural logarithms)

1. (mathematics) For a number $x$, the power to which a given base number must be raised in order to obtain $x$. Written $\log _{b}x$. For example, $\log _{10}1000=3$ because $10^{3}=1000$ and $\log _{2}16=4$ because $2^{4}=16$.

   For a currency which uses denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, etc., each jump in the base-10 logarithm from one denomination to the next higher is either 0.3010 or 0.3979.

Synonyms

• log

Derived terms

• common logarithm
• log
• logarithmancy
• logarithmic
• Napierian logarithm
• natural logarithm

 

Translations

The power to which a given base number must be raised in order to obtain a given number

• Arabic: لُوغَارِثْم‎ m (luḡariṯm)
• Armenian: լոգարիթմ (hy) (logaritʿm)
• Catalan: logaritme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 對數 (zh), 对数 (zh) (duìshù)

  Min Nan: 對數 (zh-min-nan) (tùi-sò͘), 對數 (zh-min-nan) (tuì-siàu) (Taiwanese)

• Czech: logaritmus (cs) m
• Danish: logaritme c
• Dutch: logaritme (nl) n
• Esperanto: logaritmo (eo)
• Finnish: logaritmi (fi)
• French: logarithme (fr) m
• Galician: logaritmo (gl) m
• Georgian: ლოგარითმი (logaritmi)
• German: Logarithmus (de) m
• Greek: λογάριθμος (el) m (logárithmos)
• Gujarati: લઘુગણક (laghugṇak)
• Hawaiian: huhui helu
• Hindi: लघुगणक (laghugṇak)
• Hungarian: logaritmus (hu)
• Icelandic: logri m
• Italian: logaritmo (it) m
• Japanese: 対数 (たいすう, taisū)
• Kannada: ಪೆರ್ಚುಪಟ್ಟು (kn) (percupaṭṭu), ಪಟ್ಟೇರುಕ (kn) (paṭṭēruka), ಲಘುಗಣಕ (kn) (laghugaṇaka)

• Korean: 로그 (ko) (rogeu), 대수 (ko) (daesu) (對數 (ko))
• Latin: logarithmus
• Latvian: logaritms m
• Macedonian: логари́там m (logarítam)
• Maori: taupū kōaro
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: logaritme (no) m

  Nynorsk: logaritme m

• Polish: logarytm (pl) m
• Portuguese: logaritmo (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਲਘੂਗਣਕ (laghūgaṇak)
• Romanian: logaritm (ro) m
• Russian: логари́фм (ru) m (logarífm)
• Serbo-Croatian: logaritam (sh) m
• Shona: mhetapawa, davanharu
• Sinhalese: ලඝු ගණක (laghu gaṇaka)
• Spanish: logaritmo (es) m
• Swedish: logaritm (sv) c
• Tagalog: logpaulit
• Tamil: மடக்கை (ta) (maṭakkai)
• Thai: ลอการิทึม (logaaríteum)
• Turkish: logaritma (tr)
• Vietnamese: đối số (對數), lôga, lôgarit, lô-ga-rít (vi)
• Yiddish: לאָגאַריטם‎ m (logaritm)

See also

• ln

Anagrams

• algorithm, mithralog