“Natural logarithm”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The natural logarithm of a number is its logarithm to the base of the mathematical constant e, where e is an irrational and transcendental number approximately equal to {{val|2.718281828459}}. The natural logarithm of x is generally written as {{nowrap|ln x}}, {{nowrap|log_e x}}, or sometimes, if the base e is implicit, simply {{nowrap|log x}}.^[1] Parentheses are sometimes added for clarity, giving ln(x), log_e(x) or log(x). This is done in particular when the argument to the logarithm is not a single symbol, to prevent ambiguity.

The natural logarithm of x is the power to which e would have to be raised to equal x. For example, ln(7.5) is 2.0149..., because {{nowrap|1=e^2.0149... = 7.5}}. The natural log of e itself, ln(e), is 1, because {{nowrap|1=e¹ = e}}, while the natural logarithm of 1, ln(1), is 0, since {{nowrap|1=e⁰ = 1}}.

The natural logarithm can be defined for any positive real number a as the area under the curve {{nowrap|1=y = 1/x}} from 1 to a (the area being taken as negative when a < 1). The simplicity of this definition, which is matched in many other formulas involving the natural logarithm, leads to the term "natural". The definition of the natural logarithm can be extended to give logarithm values for negative numbers and for all non-zero complex numbers, although this leads to a multi-valued function: see Complex logarithm.

The natural logarithm function, if considered as a real-valued function of a real variable, is the inverse function of the exponential function, leading to the identities:

Thus, the logarithm function is a group isomorphism from positive real numbers under multiplication to the group of real numbers under addition, represented as a function:

Logarithms can be defined to any positive base other than 1, not only e. However, logarithms in other bases differ only by a constant multiplier from the natural logarithm, and are usually defined in terms of the latter. For instance, the binary logarithm is the natural logarithm divided by ln(2), the natural logarithm of 2. Logarithms are useful for solving equations in which the unknown appears as the exponent of some other quantity. For example, logarithms are used to solve for the half-life, decay constant, or unknown time in exponential decay problems. They are important in many branches of mathematics and the sciences and are used in finance to solve problems involving compound interest.

By Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem, the natural logarithm of any positive algebraic number other than 1 is a transcendental number.

History

The concept of the natural logarithm was worked out by Gregoire de Saint-Vincent and Alphonse Antonio de Sarasa before 1649.^[2] Their work involved quadrature of the hyperbola {{nowrap|1=xy = 1}} by determination of the area of hyperbolic sectors. Their solution generated the requisite "hyperbolic logarithm" function having properties now associated with the natural logarithm.

An early mention of the natural logarithm was by Nicholas Mercator in his work Logarithmotechnia published in 1668,^[3] although the mathematics teacher John Speidell had already in 1619 compiled a table of what in fact were effectively natural logarithms.^[4]

Notational conventions

The notations {{nowrap|"ln x"}} and {{nowrap|"log_e x"}} both refer unambiguously to the natural logarithm of x.

Historically, the notations "{{math|l.}}" and "{{math|l}}" were in use at least since the 1730s,^[6]^[7] and until at least the 1840s,^[8] then "log."^[9] or "log",^[10] at least since the 1790s. Finally, in the twentieth century, the notations "Log"^[11] and "logh"^[12] are attested.

Origin of the term natural logarithm

The function

for n ∈ ℤ produces a bi-infinite sequence of hyperbolic points. When two adjacent points are joined to (0, 0) by hyperbolic radii, the hyperbolic sector so formed has unit area. Thus the total area inside the hyperbola and its asymptotes is infinite, consistent with divergence of the harmonic series. Area measure accords with the arc measure in both the circle and right hyperbola: in a circle of radius {{radic|2}}, the arc of a circular sector has an angle equal to the sector area. Likewise, the hyperbolic angle of a hyperbolic arc is measured by the area of the corresponding hyperbolic sector of xy = 1.

Tribute is paid to Leonhard Euler who profiled the importance of Euler's number e = 2.71828... as the base of the exponential function and natural logarithm. He introduced the idea of a transcendental function to classify the trigonometric and exponential functions in the precalculus textbook Introduction to the Analysis of the Infinite (1748). The quadrature of the hyperbola requires the natural logarithm, so integral calculus was inhibited by the lack of an expression for hyperbolic quadrature until Gregoire de Saint-Vincent (1647) described it with a logarithmic feature: the correspondence of an arithmetic sequence of areas with a geometric sequence on the asymptote. Expositions by Nicholas Mercator, Christiaan Huygens and others led to Euler's Introduction that detailed the circular functions in terms of infinite series.

The connection between area and the arcs of circular and hyperbolic functions demonstrates the naturalness of this logarithm.^[13]

Definitions

Formally, ln(a) may be defined as the area under the hyperbola 1/x. This is the integral,

This function is a logarithm because it satisfies the fundamental property of a logarithm:

This can be demonstrated by splitting the integral that defines ln(ab) into two parts and then making the variable substitution {{nowrap|1=x = ta}} in the second part, as follows:

In elementary terms, this is simply scaling by 1/a in the horizontal direction and by a in the vertical direction. Area does not change under this transformation, but the region between a and ab is reconfigured. Because the function a/(ax) is equal to the function 1/x, the resulting area is precisely ln(b).

Alternatively, if the exponential function has been defined first, say by using an infinite series, the natural logarithm may be defined as its inverse function, i.e., ln is that function such that exp(ln(x)) = x. Since the range of the exponential function on real arguments is all positive real numbers and since the exponential function is strictly increasing, this is well-defined for all positive x.

Properties

The statement is true for

, and we now show that

for all

, which completes the proof by the fundamental theorem of calculus. Hence, we want to show that

(Note that we have not yet proved that this statement is true.) If this is true, then by multiplying the middle statement by the positive quantity

and subtracting

we would obtain

This statement is trivially true for

since the left hand side is negative or zero. For

it is still true since both factors on the left are less than 1 (recall that

). Thus this last statement is true and by repeating our steps in reverse order we find that

for all

. This completes the proof.

An alternate proof is to observe that

under the given conditions. This can be proved, e.g., by the norm inequalities. Taking logarithms and using

completes the proof.

Derivative

The derivative of the natural logarithm as a real-valued function on the positive reals is given by

How to establish this derivative of the natural logarithm depends on how it is defined firsthand. If the natural logarithm is defined as the integral

then the derivative immediately follows from the first part of the fundamental theorem of calculus.

If the natural logarithm is defined as the inverse of the (natural) exponential function, then the derivative for x > 0 can be found by using the properties of the logarithm and a definition of the exponential function.

Series

This is the Taylor series for ln x around 1. A change of variables yields the Mercator series:

Leonhard Euler,^[15] disregarding

, nevertheless applied this series to x = −1, in order to show that the harmonic series equals the (natural) logarithm of 1/(1 − 1), that is the logarithm of infinity. Nowadays, more formally, one can prove that the harmonic series truncated at N is close to the logarithm of N, when N is large.

At right is a picture of ln(1 + x) and some of its Taylor polynomials around 0. These approximations converge to the function only in the region −1 < x ≤ 1; outside of this region the higher-degree Taylor polynomials evolve to worse approximations for the function.

The natural logarithm in integration

The natural logarithm allows simple integration of functions of the form g(x) = f '(x)/f(x): an antiderivative of g(x) is given by ln(|f(x)|). This is the case because of the chain rule and the following fact:

For ln(x) where x > 1, the closer the value of x is to 1, the faster the rate of convergence. The identities associated with the logarithm can be leveraged to exploit this:

Such techniques were used before calculators, by referring to numerical tables and performing manipulations such as those above.

Natural logarithm of 10

The natural logarithm of 10, which has the decimal expansion 2.30258509...,^[16] plays a role for example in the computation of natural logarithms of numbers represented in scientific notation, as a mantissa multiplied by a power of 10:

This means that one can effectively calculate the logarithms of numbers with very large or very small magnitude using the logarithms of a relatively small set of decimals in the range

{{anchor|lnp1}}High precision

To compute the natural logarithm with many digits of precision, the Taylor series approach is not efficient since the convergence is slow. Especially if {{math|x}} is near 1, a good alternative is to use Halley's method or Newton's method to invert the exponential function, because the series of the exponential function converges more quickly. For finding the value of {{math|y}} to give {{math|1=exp(y) − x = 0}} using Halley's method, or equivalently to give {{math|1=exp(y/2) − x exp(−y/2) = 0}} using Newton's method, the iteration simplifies to

Another alternative for extremely high precision calculation is the formula^[17]

where {{math|M}} denotes the arithmetic-geometric mean of 1 and {{math|4/s}}, and

with {{math|m}} chosen so that {{math|p}} bits of precision is attained. (For most purposes, the value of 8 for m is sufficient.) In fact, if this method is used, Newton inversion of the natural logarithm may conversely be used to calculate the exponential function efficiently. (The constants ln 2 and π can be pre-computed to the desired precision using any of several known quickly converging series.)

Based on a proposal by William Kahan and first implemented in the Hewlett-Packard HP-41C calculator in 1979 (referred to under "LN1" in the display, only), some calculators, computer algebra systems and programming languages (for example C99^[19]) provide a special natural logarithm plus 1 function, alternatively named LNP1,^[19]^[20] or log1p^[19] to give more accurate results for logarithms close to zero by passing arguments x, also close to zero, to a function log1p(x), which returns the value ln(1+x), instead of passing a value y close to 1 to a function returning ln(y).^[21]^[19]^[20] The function log1p avoids in the floating point arithmetic a near cancelling of the absolute term 1 with the second term from the Taylor expansion of the ln, thereby allowing for a high accuracy for both the argument and the result near zero.^[19]^[20] Similar inverse functions named "expm1",^[21] "expm"^[19]^[20] or "exp1m" exist as well, all with the meaning of {{nowrap|expm1(x) {{=}} exp(x) - 1.}}^[22]

gives a high precision value for small values of {{math|x}} on systems that do not implement {{math|log1p(x)}}.

Computational complexity

The computational complexity of computing the natural logarithm (using the arithmetic-geometric mean) is O(M(n) ln n). Here n is the number of digits of precision at which the natural logarithm is to be evaluated and M(n) is the computational complexity of multiplying two n-digit numbers.

Continued fractions

While no simple continued fractions are available, several generalized continued fractions are, including:

These continued fractions—particularly the last—converge rapidly for values close to 1. However, the natural logarithms of much larger numbers can easily be computed by repeatedly adding those of smaller numbers, with similarly rapid convergence.

For example, since 2 = 1.25³ × 1.024, the natural logarithm of 2 can be computed as:

Furthermore, since 10 = 1.25¹⁰ × 1.024³, even the natural logarithm of 10 similarly can be computed as:

Complex logarithms

The exponential function can be extended to a function which gives a complex number as {{math|e^x}} for any arbitrary complex number x; simply use the infinite series with x complex. This exponential function can be inverted to form a complex logarithm that exhibits most of the properties of the ordinary logarithm. There are two difficulties involved: no x has {{math|e^x {{=}} 0}}; and it turns out that {{math|e^2{{pi}}i {{=}} 1 {{=}} e⁰}}. Since the multiplicative property still works for the complex exponential function, {{math|e^z {{=}} e^z+2{{pi}}ki}}, for all complex z and integers k.

So the logarithm cannot be defined for the whole complex plane, and even then it is multi-valued – any complex logarithm can be changed into an "equivalent" logarithm by adding any integer multiple of 2{{pi}}i at will. The complex logarithm can only be single-valued on the cut plane. For example, {{math|ln(i)}} = {{sfrac|{{pi}}i|2}} or {{sfrac|5{{pi}}i|2}} or -{{sfrac|3{{pi}}i|2}}, etc.; and although {{math|i⁴ {{=}} 1, 4 log(i)}} can be defined as 2{{pi}}i, or 10{{pi}}i or −6{{pi}}i, and so on.

See also

Notes

1. ^{{cite book |title=Mathematics for physical chemistry |edition=3rd |author-first=Robert G. |author-last=Mortimer |publisher=Academic Press |date=2005 |isbn=0-12-508347-5 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nGoSv5tmATsC}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=nGoSv5tmATsC&pg=PA9 Extract of page 9]
2. ^{{cite book |author-first=R. P. |author-last=Burn |date=2001 |title=Alphonse Antonio de Sarasa and Logarithms |publisher=Historia Mathematica |pages=28:1–17}}
3. ^{{cite web |author-first1=J. J. |author-last1=O'Connor |author-first2=E. F. |author-last2=Robertson |url=http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/e.html |title=The number e |publisher=The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive |date=September 2001 |access-date=2009-02-02}}
4. ^{{cite book |author-last=Cajori |author-first=Florian |author-link=Florian Cajori |title=A History of Mathematics |edition=5th |page=152 |publisher=AMS Bookstore |date=1991 |isbn=0-8218-2102-4 |url=https://books.google.com/?id=mGJRjIC9fZgC}}
5. ^Including C, C++, SAS, MATLAB, Mathematica, Fortran, and BASIC
6. ^{{cite journal |title=Variae observationes circa series infinitas |author-first=Leonhard |author-last=Euler |author-link=Leonhard Euler |journal=Commentarii academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae (CASP) |volume=9 |date=1737 |publication-date=1744 |pages=160–188 |id=E72}}
7. ^{{cite book |author-first=Leonhard |author-last=Euler |author-link=Leonhard Euler |title=Opera Omnia, Series Prima: Opera Mathematica |orig-year= |date=1925 |volume=Quartum Decimum |publisher=Teubner}}
8. ^{{cite book |author-first=Augustin |author-last=Cauchy |author-link=Augustin Cauchy |title=Exercices d'analyse et de physique mathématique |volume=3 |page=380 |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=fr&id=zQo7AAAAcAAJ |access-date=2015-10-31}}
9. ^{{cite book |author-first=Adrien-Marie |author-last=Legendre |author-link=Adrien-Marie Legendre |title=Essai sur la théorie des nombres |location=Paris, France |publisher=Duprat, libraire pour les mathématiques, quai des Augustins |volume=VI |date=1798}}
10. ^{{cite book |author-first=Edmund |author-last=Landau |author-link=Edmund Landau |title=Handbuch der Lehre von der Verteilung der Primzahlen |location=Berlin |orig-year=1909 |date=1953 |edition=2 |publisher=Chelsea, New York}}
11. ^{{cite book |author-first=Nikolaï |author-last=Piskounov |author-link=:fr:Nikolaï Piskounov |title=Calcul différentiel et intégral |edition=5 |date=1972 |publisher=Editions Mir |location=Moskow |page=91 |url=http://fr.scribd.com/doc/26412181/Calcul-Differentiel-Et-Integral-Tome1-N-Piskounov-Mir}}
12. ^{{cite book |author-first=L. B. W. |author-last=Jolley |date=1961 |title=Summation of Series |edition=2 (revised) |publisher=Dover Publications, Inc. |location=New York, USA |lccn=61-65274 |url=http://plouffe.fr/simon/math/SummationofSeries.pdf |access-date=2015-10-31}}
13. ^{{cite web |author-last=Ballew |author-first=Pat |title=Math Words, and Some Other Words, of Interest |url=http://www.pballew.net/arithme1.html#ln |access-date=2018-01-18}}
14. ^"Logarithmic Expansions" at Math2.org
15. ^Leonhard Euler, Introductio in Analysin Infinitorum. Tomus Primus. Bousquet, Lausanne 1748. Exemplum 1, p. 228; quoque in: Opera Omnia, Series Prima, Opera Mathematica, Volumen Octavum, Teubner 1922
16. ^{{OEIS2C|A002392}}
17. ^{{cite journal |author-first1=T. |author-last1=Sasaki |author-first2=Y. |author-last2=Kanada |title=Practically fast multiple-precision evaluation of log(x) |journal=Journal of Information Processing |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=247–250 |date=1982 |url=http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110002673332 |access-date=2011-03-30}}
18. ^{{cite journal |author-first1=Timm |author-last1=Ahrendt |work=Stacs 99 |series=Lecture Notes in Computer Science |doi=10.1007/3-540-49116-3_28 |volume=1564 |date=1999 |pages=302–312 |title=Fast Computations of the Exponential Function |isbn=978-3-540-65691-3}}
19. ^¹²³{{cite book |title=HP 48G Series – Advanced User's Reference Manual (AUR) |publisher=Hewlett-Packard |edition=4 |date=December 1994 |id=HP 00048-90136, 0-88698-01574-2 |orig-year=1993 |url=http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=6036 |access-date=2015-09-06}}
20. ^¹²³{{cite book |title=HP 50g / 49g+ / 48gII graphing calculator advanced user's reference manual (AUR) |publisher=Hewlett-Packard |edition=2 |date=2009-07-14 |orig-year=2005 |id=HP F2228-90010 |url=http://www.hpcalc.org/details.php?id=7141 | accessdate=2015-10-10}} Searchable PDF
21. ^¹²³{{cite web |title=Computation of expm1 = exp(x)−1 |author-first=Nelson H. F. |author-last=Beebe |publisher=Department of Mathematics, Center for Scientific Computing, University of Utah |location=Salt Lake City, Utah, USA |date=2002-07-09 |version=1.00 |url=http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/reports/expm1.pdf |access-date=2015-11-02}}
22. ^For a similar approach to reduce round-off errors of calculations for certain input values see trigonometric functions like versine, vercosine, coversine, covercosine, haversine, havercosine, hacoversine, hacovercosine, exsecant and excosecant.