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Semi-log plot of the Internet host count over time shown on a logarithmic scale. A logarithmic scale (or log scale) is a method used to display numerical data that spans a broad range of values, especially when there are significant differences between the magnitudes of the numbers involved.
A logarithmic chart depicting the value of one Goldmark in Papiermarks during the German hyperinflation in the 1920s. Scientific quantities are often expressed as logarithms of other quantities, using a logarithmic scale. For example, the decibel is a unit of measurement associated with logarithmic-scale quantities.
When a real number like .007 is denoted alternatively by 7.0 × 10 —3 then it is said that the number is represented in scientific notation.More generally, to write a number in the form a × 10 b, where 1 <= a < 10 and b is an integer, is to express it in scientific notation, and a is called the significand or the mantissa, and b is its exponent. [3]
A log–log plot of y = x (blue), y = x 2 (green), and y = x 3 (red). Note the logarithmic scale markings on each of the axes, and that the log x and log y axes (where the logarithms are 0) are where x and y themselves are 1. Comparison of linear, concave, and convex functions when plotted using a linear scale (left) or a log scale (right).
The mathematical notation for using the common logarithm is log(x), [4] log 10 (x), [5] or sometimes Log(x) with a capital L; [a] on calculators, it is printed as "log", but mathematicians usually mean natural logarithm (logarithm with base e ≈ 2.71828) rather than common logarithm when writing "log".
The line, inscribed on wood, was a single logarithmic scale going from 1 to 100. It had no sliding parts but by using a pair of dividers it was possible to multiply and divide numbers. [note 3] The form with a single logarithmic scale eventually developed into such instruments as Fuller's cylindrical slide rule.
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Logarithmic can refer to: Logarithm , a transcendental function in mathematics Logarithmic scale , the use of the logarithmic function to describe measurements