e. all loans. The same basic formulas using logarithms can be used to calculate the needed number of investments and/or the time period of investments at a given growth rate that will be needed in order to reach a target level of investments savings (Brown 2010). Both of these applications have very real implications for many individuals, whether they are trying to buy a home or planning for their retirement, as well as a n abundance of other issues related to personal banking. Logarithms are not only useful in highly technical scientific pursuits and investigations, then, but are directly applicable and necessary to situations that directly relate to and have an effect on people's daily lives. What I found most interesting and surprising about the development of logarithms is that they are something that needed development in the first place. I suppose it is similar to having taken any invention that pre-existed myself a little for granted, but with something intangible like a mathematical concept, it seems even more strange that there was a time before logarithms were used -- the numbers and operations necessary for their development existed for millennia, so it seems odd that it took so long for this development to occur. Of course, given that the many applications for logarithms still greatly confuse me (just when I thought I was beginning to understand the mathematics behind them, the practicalities of their use confound me!), I suppose it's understandable that it took...
While it did not greatly add to my understanding of logarithms themselves, it definitely made it clear how useful and necessary this tool is in many different applications, not only within purely mathematical operations but also in scientific pursuits and financial calculations that could have a definite effect on my future. Relating the mathematical concepts we encounter in class -- especially the concepts that for one reason or another present bigger challenges to one's understanding than others -- to real-world and personally affecting situations is definitely a good method for encouraging perseverance in understanding these concepts.
The history from the Renaissance to the Machine Age was defined by major technical and stylistic advances that allowed for much larger, taller, more elegant buildings, and higher degrees of functionality and architectural expression. In cultural and scientific matters, the Modern Era was characterized by an increasingly rationalistic trajectory of thought which was based on an ethos of the humanistic exploration of reality and truth. While in a cultural sense
This methodology emphasized observable empirical evidence as the way towards discovering and understanding natural laws and true causes. It was the use of this method that was cardinal in the advancement and development of many disciplines, including architecture. Coupled with this was the invention of modern printing by Johannes Gutenberg (1398 -- 1468). His mechanized process of movable type allowed books to be mass produced. This invention laid the
Communication History Fans of science fiction are fond of recalling a remark by novelist Arthur C. Clarke, to the effect that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I am currently typing these sentences onto a laptop, where I am also currently watching a grainy YouTube video of the legendary magician Harry Houdini, performing one of his legendary escapes -- from a straitjacket, in this case. Houdini is probably the
Today, even the local gas station and supermarket use computer technology and applications that are much more advanced in their capability than the computer systems used to launch and recover the first generation of spacecraft (Evans, 2004; Kaku, 1997). Modern computer applications perform calculations and allow analyses of very high volumes of information that far exceed the capacity of direct monitoring by human operators (Larsen, 2007; Nocera, 2009). That is
In the same year, the founders started a new company for computer development called the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. By 1949, this company launched the BINAC or Binary Automatic computer. This computer made use of magnetic tape for the storage of data. Then this company was bought by Remington Rand Corporation and the name was changed to Univac Division of Remington Rand. This company was the organization to bring out
Many inquiries were made into the universe, from how it worked to its creation, as well as the construction of a workable calendar and an understanding of numerous illnesses. These collective areas of discussion fall under the term of natural philosophy, or philosophy of nature. Before modern science was developed and widely used, natural philosophy was the prominent method of gaining knowledge. So dominant and involved was natural philosophy
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