EXPONENCIAL AND LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

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MATHEMATICS FOR ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES
EXPONENCIAL AND LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

ORIGIN
Logarithms were invented around 1590 by John Napier (1550-1617) and Jobst Bürgi(1552-1632) independently. Napier, whose work was more influential, was a Scottish lord, very reserved character whose neighbors thought they had a deal with the devil. His approach of logarithms was verydifferent from ours; was based on the relationship between arithmetic and geometric sequences and not on the current as an inverse function (reciprocal) of the exponential functions. Napier's tables,published in 1614, contained the so-called natural logarithms and were somewhat difficult to use. A London teacher, Henry Briggs, became interested in the tables and visited Napier. In their talks,the two developed the idea of common logarithms and Briggs became Napier tables in tables of common logarithms were published in 1617. Its importance to calculation was immediately recognized, andabout 1650 these were printed as far away as China. These tables remained a powerful calculation tool until the advent of hand calculators low around 1972, which has declined in importance as a tool forcalculus, but not its theoretical importance. A side effect of the invention of logarithms was popularizing decimal notation for real numbers.




Función Exponencial
Se aplica a la química yfísica. En algunos elementos radioactivos son de tal naturaleza que sucantidad disminuye con respecto al tiempo, se cumple la ley exponencial y se dice que el elemento decrece o decae.
En laquímica, el PH de una sustancia se define como: H = -Log H+, donde H+ es la... [continua]






los logaritmos se presentan en problemas de crecimiento y decrecimiento exponencial, puesto que sonlas inversas de las funciones exponenciales. Debido a las leyes de los logaritmos, también resultan ser útiles en la medición de la intensidad de un sonido, la intensidad de los terremotos y muchos...