Alexander John Thompson
Encyclopedia
Alexander John Thompson is the author of the last great table of logarithms, published in 1952. This table, the Logarithmetica britannica gives the logarithm
s of all numbers from 1 to 100000 to 20 places and supersedes all previous tables of similar scope, in particular the tables of Henry Briggs
, Adriaan Vlacq
and Gaspard de Prony
.
Logarithm
The logarithm of a number is the exponent by which another fixed value, the base, has to be raised to produce that number. For example, the logarithm of 1000 to base 10 is 3, because 1000 is 10 to the power 3: More generally, if x = by, then y is the logarithm of x to base b, and is written...
s of all numbers from 1 to 100000 to 20 places and supersedes all previous tables of similar scope, in particular the tables of Henry Briggs
Henry Briggs (mathematician)
Henry Briggs was an English mathematician notable for changing the original logarithms invented by John Napier into common logarithms, which are sometimes known as Briggsian logarithms in his honour....
, Adriaan Vlacq
Adriaan Vlacq
Adriaan Vlacq was a Dutch book publisher and author of mathematical tables. Born in Gouda, Vlacq published a table of logarithms from 1 to 100,000 to 10 decimal places in 1628 in his Arithmetica logarithmica. This table extended Henry Briggs' original tables which only covered the values...
and Gaspard de Prony
Gaspard de Prony
Gaspard Clair François Marie Riche de Prony was a French mathematician and engineer, who worked on hydraulics. He was born at Chamelet, Beaujolais, France and died in Asnières-sur-Seine, France.-Education and early works:...
.
Publications
- Alexander John Thompson: Table of the coefficients of Everett's central-difference interpolation formula, 1921, Cambridge: University Press (2nd edition in 1943)
- Alexander John Thompson: Henry Briggs and His Work on Logarithms, The American Mathematical Monthly, 32(3), March 1925, pp. 129–131
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica [Texte imprimé] : being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places of the numbers 10,000 to 100,000, 2 volumes, 1952, Cambridge: University Press, http://books.google.com/books?id=fH48AAAAIAAJ, reprinted in 1967, formerly issued in 9 parts:
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part I, Numbers 10,000 to 20,000, 1934, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part II, Numbers 20,000 to 30,000, 1952, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part III, Numbers 30,000 to 40,000, 1937, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part IV, Numbers 40,000 to 50,000, 1928, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part V, Numbers 50,000 to 60,000, 1931, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part VI, Numbers 60,000 to 70,000, 1933, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part VII, Numbers 70,000 to 80,000, 1935, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part VIII, Numbers 80,000 to 90,000, 1927, Cambridge: University Press
- Alexander John Thompson: Logarithmetica britannica, being a standard table of logarithms to twenty decimal places. Part IX, Numbers 90,000 to 100,000, 1924, Cambridge: University Press
- There is apparently a Russian translation, Logarifmy čisel ot 10000 do 55000, Logarifmy čisel ot 55000 do 100000, published in Moscow in 1961 and again in 1972