History
Henry Briggs was an English mathematician who devoted most of his life to working on logarithms. Briggs was born in February of 1561 in Warley Wood, Halifax, in Yorkshire. It is believed that Briggs grew up in a poor family situation. He attended a local grammar school, and went on to St. John's College in Cambridge. It is probable that Briggs received some sort of scholarship to go to college, for his family would not have enough money to pay for him. He was made a scholar in 1579, and received his B.A. in 1581. In 1596, he was appointed Professor of Geometry at Gresham College in London. Later, he took the vacant position as Professor of Astronomy at Oxford in 1620. During his life, Briggs spent a lot of time working with Napier to simplify his original logarithms.
Logarithms
Briggs traveled to Edinburgh in 1616 to work with Napier to improve his original logarithms. This came shortly after Briggs expressed his desire to simplify the existing logarithms Napier had invented two years earlier. Briggs saw logarithms as a device to aid in astronomical calculations. He worked with Napier to change logarithms out of hyperbolic form.
Hyperbolic Form: log y = 10^7 and log e = 10^7/y
He conceived the idea of having a table of logarithms with base 10. He published his first log tables in 1617, each log was given to 14 significant figures. During hislife, Briggs published two very important books on logarithms: Logarithmorum Chilias Prima (1617), and Arithmetica Logarithmica (1624). Briggs' tables remain the basis of today's logarithms.
Arithmetica Logarithmica
Arithmetica Logarithmica was a publication put out by Henry Briggs documenting his work on logarithms. It was published and released in 1624, and Briggs dedicated this work to Prince Charles. It contained the numerations for 30,000 logs. The book had tables for the logs of 1 to 20,000, and from 90,000 to 100,000. Briggs also included tables of logarithmic sines and tangents. Tables for natural trigonometric sine functions to 15 places, and a table of trigonometric tangent and secant functions to 10 places were also included in this illustrious journal.
The table below is a logarithmic table that shows the natural logarithms of 1.00 to 2.99. Henry Briggs was the first to create logaritmic tables. Obviously, his tables were much more intricate, and a lot bigger.
|
X
|
.00
|
.01
|
.02
|
.03
|
.04
|
.05
|
.06
|
.07
|
.08
|
.09
|
|
1.0
|
.00000
|
.00995
|
.01980
|
.02956
|
.03922
|
.04879
|
.05827
|
.06766
|
.07696
|
.08618
|
|
1.1
|
.09531
|
.10436
|
.11333
|
.12222
|
.13103
|
.13976
|
.14842
|
.15700
|
.16551
|
.17395
|
|
1.2
|
.18232
|
.19062
|
.19885
|
.20701
|
.21511
|
.22314
|
.23111
|
.23902
|
.24686
|
.25464
|
|
1.3
|
.26236
|
.27003
|
.27763
|
.28518
|
.29267
|
.30010
|
.30748
|
.31481
|
.32208
|
.32930
|
|
1.4
|
.33647
|
.34359
|
.35066
|
.35767
|
.36464
|
.37156
|
.37844
|
.38526
|
.39204
|
.39878
|
|
1.5
|
.40547
|
.41211
|
.41871
|
.42527
|
.43178
|
.43825
|
.44469
|
.45108
|
.45742
|
.46373
|
|
1.6
|
.47000
|
.47623
|
.48243
|
.48858
|
.49470
|
.50078
|
.50682
|
.51282
|
.51879
|
.52473
|
|
1.7
|
.53063
|
.53649
|
.54232
|
.54812
|
.55389
|
.55962
|
.56531
|
.57098
|
.57661
|
.58222
|
|
1.8
|
.58779
|
.59333
|
.59884
|
.60432
|
.60977
|
.61519
|
.62058
|
.62594
|
.63127
|
.63658
|
|
1.9
|
.64185
|
.64710
|
.65233
|
.65752
|
.66269
|
.66783
|
.67294
|
.67803
|
.68310
|
.68813
|
|
2.0
|
.69315
|
.69813
|
.70310
|
.70804
|
.71295
|
.71784
|
.72271
|
.72755
|
.73237
|
.73716
|
|
2.1
|
.74194
|
.74669
|
.75142
|
.75612
|
.76081
|
.76547
|
.77011
|
.77473
|
.77932
|
.78390
|
|
2.2
|
.78846
|
.79299
|
.79751
|
.80200
|
.80648
|
.81093
|
.81536
|
.81978
|
.82418
|
.82855
|
|
2.3
|
.83291
|
.83725
|
.84157
|
.84587
|
.85015
|
.85442
|
.85866
|
.86289
|
.86710
|
.87129
|
|
2.4
|
.87547
|
.87963
|
.88377
|
.88789
|
.89200
|
.89609
|
.90016
|
.90422
|
.90826
|
.91228
|
|
2.5
|
.91629
|
.92028
|
.92426
|
.92822
|
.93216
|
.93609
|
.94001
|
.94391
|
.94779
|
.95166
|
|
2.6
|
.95551
|
.95936
|
.93617
|
.96698
|
.97078
|
.97456
|
.97833
|
.98208
|
.98582
|
.98954
|
|
2.7
|
.99325
|
.99695
|
1.0006
|
1.0043
|
1.0080
|
1.0116
|
1.0152
|
1.0189
|
1.0225
|
1.0260
|
|
2.8
|
1.0296
|
1.0332
|
1.0367
|
1.0403
|
1.0438
|
1.0473
|
1.0508
|
1.0543
|
1.0578
|
1.0613
|
|
2.9
|
1.0647
|
1.0682
|
1.0716
|
1.0750
|
1.0784
|
1.0818
|
1.0852
|
1.0886
|
1.0919
|
1.0953
|
Links To Other Henry Briggs Websites
Henry Briggs
Henry Briggs Biography
Visit These Sites Based on Logarithms
A Simple Example
Value of e
Bibliography
Gillispie, Charles. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Volume 2. Charles Scribner's Sons; New York, 1970.
Abbot, David. The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists - Mathematicians. Peter Bodrick Books, 1985.
