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Napier, John

Born 1550 in Merchiston, near Edinburgh; died there Apr. 4, 1617. Scottish mathematician; inventor of logarithms.

Napier studied at the University of Edinburgh. He had mastered the fundamental concepts of logarithms before 1594; however, his Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio . .. (Description of the Marvelous Canon of Logarithms), in which he set forth this knowledge, was published in 1614. This work contained a definition of logarithms; an explanation of their properties; tables of the logarithms of sines, cosines, and tangents; and applications of logarithms to spherical trigonometry. In Mirifici logarithmorum canonis constructio . .. (Construction of the Marvelous Canon of Logarithms), published 1619, Napier set forth the principles for calculating the tables. The kinematic definition of a logarithm given by Napier is essentially equivalent to the definition of a logarithmic function in terms of a differential equation. Napier also discovered a number of formulas for solving spherical triangles that can be conveniently given in logarithmic form.

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Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio; ejusque usus, in utraque, trigonometria, ut etiam in omni logística mathematica . . . explicatio. Edinburgh, 1614.

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John Napier

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