Numerical Value
To calculate the numerical value of the natural logarithm of a number, the Taylor series expansion can be rewritten as:
To obtain a better rate of convergence, the following identity can be used.
- provided that y = (x−1)/(x+1) and x > 0.
For ln(x) where x > 1, the closer the value of x is to 1, the faster the rate of convergence. The identities associated with the logarithm can be leveraged to exploit this:
Such techniques were used before calculators, by referring to numerical tables and performing manipulations such as those above.
Read more about this topic: Natural Logarithm
Famous quotes containing the word numerical:
“The terrible tabulation of the French statists brings every piece of whim and humor to be reducible also to exact numerical ratios. If one man in twenty thousand, or in thirty thousand, eats shoes, or marries his grandmother, then, in every twenty thousand, or thirty thousand, is found one man who eats shoes, or marries his grandmother.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There is a genius of a nation, which is not to be found in the numerical citizens, but which characterizes the society.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)