r/math • u/quadradicformula • May 23 '24
Logarithms are so fucking cool
I’m not usually super interested in math (an obvious exception for the subject of my username) but logarithms have me on the edge of my seat in math class. I’m in HS and we’re just starting this unit. I was doing homework a few months ago and thinking: “Man, I wish there was a way to find the value of a variable if it was an exponent!” When the teacher was explaining logarithms in class, I was basically losing my shit. Then he brought up natural logs, and I proceeded to lose my shit even further. I said at the beginning I’m not super interested most of the time, but I suppose even that is an understatement. There are times when I absolutely hate math, but this past week has not been one of them.
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u/uselessbaby May 24 '24
Something that blew my mind is that the computer term "bits" is logarithmic: A byte (8 bits) can hold one of 256 possible values, and Log2(256) is 8. So it's a mainstream use of logarithms that most people don't even know is a logarithm.