The history of logarithms and its didactical implications

Abstract

For more than three centuries, students encountered logarithms initially as a computational tool. Today, electronic calculation has obviated the need to teach computation with logarithms, and the first encounter with logarithms is often a rather abstract treatment of natural logarithms. This introduction seems out of the blue, with little connection to what the students have learned before. Here, we examine the historical development of logarithms, the remarkable individuals involved and their surprising discoveries, and we will suggest a possible implementation of this development to teaching. The proposed teaching sequence has been successfully undertaken twice with 16-17 year-old high school students (11th grade). With this approach logarithms seem less mysterious, more human, more understandable, and today’s students find more “natural” the so-called natural logarithms.