Logarithm

//ˈlɑ.ɡə.ɹɪ.ð(ə)m// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    For a number x, the exponent by which a given base number must be raised in order to obtain the power x. Written log _bx. For example, log ₁₀1000=3 because 10³=1000 and log ₂16=4 because 2⁴=16.

    "For a currency which uses denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, etc., each jump in the base-10 logarithm from one denomination to the next higher is either 0.3010 or 0.3979."

  2. 2
    the exponent required to produce a given number wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
loglog

Example

More examples

"1 is the natural logarithm of e."

Etymology

From New Latin logarithmus, term coined by Scottish mathematician John Napier from Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “word, reckoning”) and ἀριθμός (arithmós, “number”); compare rational number, from analogous Latin.

Related phrases

Briggs logarithmBriggsian logarithmNaperian logarithmNapierian logarithmbinary logarithmcommon logarithmnatural logarithmternary logarithm

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.