14.

Nicolaus Mercators Logarithmic Series

Find the (natural) logarithm of a given number without using tables (or the ln
button on a calculator).

The problem is to find a series, or several series, that approximate ln. The simplest
one:
ln1  x  x " 1 x 2  1 x 3 " 1 x 4  ". . .
2 3 4

for |x|  1 is found for the first time in the Logarithmotechnia (London, 1668) of the Holstein
mathematician Nicolaus Mercator (1620-1687) (whose real name was Kaufmann). Our
derivation of the logarithmic series uses the mean value of fx  x11 : x"10 ; t11 dt 
x lnx1
x .
0

fx  x11 can be written more briefly as f  x11 or f  1 " xf. Now replace f by 1 " xf to
get f  1 " x1 " xf  1 " x  x 2 f. Replacing f again by 1 " xf gives us f  1 " x  x 2 " x 3 f,
and more generally

f  1 " x  x 2 " x 3  x 4 " . . . "1 n"1 x n"1  "1 n x n f.

Finding mean values of each side gives us

ln1  x 2 3 n"1
x  1 " x  x " x  ". . . ""1 n"1 x n  T
2 3 4

where T is the mean value of "1 n x n f  "1 n xx1 between 0 and x. Let F be the maximum
n

n
value of f between 0 and x. Then the mean value of xx1 is less than or equal to F times the
mean value of x n , i.e., nx1 . Accordingly, the mean value of x n f equals !F nx1 for some !
n n

between 0 and 1, and T  "1 n !F nx1 . Then

n

2 3 4 n n1
ln1  x  x " x  x " x  ". . . ""1 n"1 xn  "1 n !F x .
2 3 4 n1
x n1 n1
If |x|  1 (also when x  1), lim
nv. n1
 0, and the same is true for "1 n !F xn1 .

Thus for "1  x t 1, we have

(1) ln1  x  x " x2

2
 x3
3
" x4
4
 ". . .

This is Mercators series for ln1  x . Replacing x by "x, we get

(2) ln1 " x  "x " x2

2
" x3
3
" x4
4
". . .

and subtracting (2) from (1) gives us

1
 ln 1  x  2 x  x  x . . . .
3 5
1"x 3 5

1x
For "1  x  1, X  1"x
can be any positive number, as the graph below indicates.

10
X
9

-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5
-1 x

X"1
For this X, x  X1
, which is between "1 and 1. Thus we can write

X"1
(3) ln X  2 x  x3
3
 x5
5
. . . with x  X1
,

a series expansion valid for all X  0.

Note 1. Drrie concludes this problem by giving another logarithmic series (obtained by
setting X  Zz , and examples of this) whereby logarithmic tables can be easily
constructed.
Note 2. If log x denotes the common logarithm of x, i.e., logarithm to the base 10, then
10 log x  e ln x  x, ln10 log x  lne ln x , or log x  ln 10  ln x, so that
log x  lnln10x X 0. 434294481903 ln x.