Ooof!
Did the method of adjusting all the logs by +10 really make the task easier?
Merely negating the log seems better to me.... or simply learning to do
arithmetic on negatives.
Steve
On 2022-08-09 8:11 a.m., R. Hooijenga via sundial wrote:
Frans' answer is much to the point here.
When I started at sea, star fixes were computed on a sight reduction
form. Without the benefit of a calculator, it would be folly to
attempt this without logarithms. (At the time, I did have a brand-new
Sinclair Scientific, but the first mate took a dim view of this
new-fangled contraption.)
To avoid the negatives, 10 was added, only to be dismissed after the
addition or subtraction.
The example below is from W.L. Kennon: /Astronomy/, which I kept from
freshman year. It shows the use of logarithms and of the ‘10’.
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