The Log-Antilog Procedure: Part I
I need to take two types of math papers when I was in Form Four. The year was 1996 and it was the year when we celebrated the completion of the Petronas Twin Towers. The first paper is called modern math , the second paper is called additional math . Although the first paper is prefixed with the word modern , some of its contents is not modern at all. One example is that the government forced us to learn an outdated technique of multiplying numbers with the aid of four-figure tables. A booklet of four-figure mathematical tables, arranged and compiled by two English mathematicians Jeffrey C. P. Miller (1906 – 1981) and Frank C. Powell (1905 – 1993). I can still recall that I watched bemusedly, as my modern math teacher, Mr. Chan Wai Cheng, demonstrated to us, the lengthy and laborious procedure for obtaining product like $$7314 \times 7986$$ in the classroom. The procedure requires the student to first read the logarithms for the two numbers from the l...