Nowadays there is no more need to use logarithms in trigonometric calculations. They were used in the past, before the "calculators age" when calculations were carried out by paper and pencil (and mind too). Logarithms make the job easier because they substitute multiplications and divisions by simpler additions and subtractions. Try the difference between multiplying two numbers with five decimal figures (such as trig functions) and adding them ! A scientific calculator makes, with no efforts, every kind of calculations so we can use directly multiplications and divisions as they appear in formulas. Many ancient formulas were provided to be used with logarithms tables (and were commonly called logarithmic formulas), but the birth of scientific calculators get them no more useful, so today many of them have been replaced by non-logarithmic formulas. Navigators certainly remember when they used ABC tables and Haversine method to finding azimuth and altitude of stars. Nowadays is more convenient (maybe less romantic) to use the Cosine and Sine (Euler) formulas for the same need.
Regards F.Martinelli ---------------------------------**----------------------------------- Istituto Tecnico Nautico Statale "ARTIGLIO" Viareggio (LU) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.nauticoartiglio.lu.it -----------------------------------------**-------------------------- >Dear Ken: > >You hit the nail on the head! You are absolutely correct in the need for >the step-by-step recipe approach. Needless to say, I still don't know how >to use a calculator using logrithmic functions. Until now, in this little >e-mail of yours, you are the only one to begin to explain how. I'd love for >somebody to (maybe you?) to write the much needed calculator article. > >Thanks for your ideas. >
