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The binary logarithm is the logarithm to the base 2 and is the inverse function of the power of two function. As well as log 2, an alternative notation for the binary logarithm is lb (the notation preferred by ISO 31-11 and ISO 80000-2).
Logarithms can be used to make calculations easier. For example, two numbers can be multiplied just by using a logarithm table and adding. These are often known as logarithmic properties, which are documented in the table below. [2] The first three operations below assume that x = b c and/or y = b d, so that log b (x) = c and log b (y) = d.
The middle column shows the difference between the two logs, which is the Napierian log of the tangent function (cotangent if you reverse signs). [2]: Ch. III The tables can also be used as a table of Napierian logarithms for positive numbers less than one, using the sine values (Columns 2 and 6) as the argument and the log sine values (Columns ...
Because log(x) is the sum of the terms of the form log(1 + 2 −k) corresponding to those k for which the factor 1 + 2 −k was included in the product P, log(x) may be computed by simple addition, using a table of log(1 + 2 −k) for all k. Any base may be used for the logarithm table. [53]
When b is 2, the unit is the shannon, equal to the information content of one "bit" (a portmanteau of binary digit [2]). A system with 8 possible states, for example, can store up to log 2 8 = 3 bits of information. Other units that have been named include: Base b = 3 the unit is called "trit", and is equal to log 2 3 (≈ 1.585) bits. [3] Base ...
One part of this machine called an "endless spindle" allowed the mechanical expression of the relation = (+), [14] with the aim of extracting the logarithm of a sum as a sum of logarithms. A LNS has been used in the Gravity Pipe ( GRAPE-5 ) special-purpose supercomputer [ 15 ] that won the Gordon Bell Prize in 1999.
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A page from Henry Briggs' 1617 Logarithmorum Chilias Prima showing the base-10 (common) logarithm of the integers 0 to 67 to fourteen decimal places. Part of a 20th-century table of common logarithms in the reference book Abramowitz and Stegun. A page from a table of logarithms of trigonometric functions from the 2002 American Practical Navigator.