Base-10 logarithm

Before the early 1970s, handheld electronic calculators were not available, and mechanical calculators capable of multiplication were bulky, expensive, and not widely available. Instead, tables of base-10 logarithms were used in science, engineering and navigation—when calculations required greater accuracy than could be achieved with a slide rule. By turning multiplication and division to addition and subtraction, use of logarithms avoided laborious and error-prone paper-and-pencil multiplications and divisions. Because logarithms were so useful, tables of base-10 logarithms were given in appendices of many textbooks. Mathematical and navigation handbooks included tables of the logarithms of trigonometric functions as well. For the history of such tables, see log table.