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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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John Napier
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(1550–1617) Scottish mathematician, laird of Merchiston Castle near Edinburgh, renowned for the invention of logarithms – which he published in 1614 in Mirifici logarithmorum canonis descriptio (Description of the wonderful rule of logarithms). His tables substituted addition and subtraction for multiplication and division, by providing the appropriate power for each number in relation to a given base. Logarithms remained the quickest way of making complex calculations until the arrival of the computer and pocket calculator.
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