Solved cryptogram
Napier turned multiplication into addition, which is why a slide rule could do the work.
Mathematics Facts, sourced to MacTutor History of Mathematics.
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This fact is a cryptogram here: 72 letters over 18 different ones, graded medium.
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What it means
Multiplying two long numbers by hand is slow and error prone. Napier published tables in 1614 that replaced each number with an exponent, so that multiplying meant looking up two entries, adding them and looking the answer back up. Laplace said it doubled the life of an astronomer. Every slide rule since was a pair of logarithmic scales, and the instrument stayed in engineers' pockets until the electronic calculator arrived.
The claim comes from MacTutor History of Mathematics.
- SourceMacTutor History of Mathematics
- CollectionMathematics Facts
- Difficultymedium
- Length72 letters, 18 of them different
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