Calculation
Logarithms are easy to compute in some cases, such as log10(1,000) = 3. In general, logarithms can be calculated using power series or the arithmetic-geometric mean, or be retrieved from a precalculated logarithm table that provides a fixed precision. Newton's method, an iterative method to solve equations approximately, can also be used to calculate the logarithm, because its inverse function, the exponential function, can be computed efficiently. Using look-up tables, CORDIC-like methods can be used to compute logarithms if the only available operations are addition and bit shifts. Moreover, the binary logarithm algorithm calculates lb(x) recursively based on repeated squarings of x, taking advantage of the relation
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Famous quotes containing the word calculation:
“Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation appled to life.”
—Henri-Frédéric Amiel (1821–1881)
““To my thinking” boomed the Professor, begging the question as usual, “the greatest triumph of the human mind was the calculation of Neptune from the observed vagaries of the orbit of Uranus.”
“And yours,” said the P.B.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)