Synergy User Manual and Tutorial. - THE CORE MEMORY

Synergy User Manual and Tutorial
historic book Liber Abaci or “The Book of Calculation”, which was his interpretation of
the Arabic-Hindu decimal number system that he learned while traveling with Arabs in
North Africa. This book was the first to expose the general public, rather than academia,
to the decimal number system, which quickly gained popularity because of its clear
superiority over existing systems. iv
The Greek astronomer,
geographer and
mathematician
Hipparchus (c. 190 BC
– 120 BC) likely
invented the
navigational instrument
called an astrolabe.
This is a protractor-like
device consisting of a
degree marked circle
with a center attached rotating arm. When the zero degree mark is aligned on the horizon
and a celestial body is sighted along the movable arm, the celestial body’s position can be
read from the degree marks on the circle. The sextant eventually replaced this device
because the sextant measured relative to the horizon and not the device itself, which
allowed more accurate measurements of position for latitude.
Sometime between 1612 and 1614, John Napier (1550 -
1617), born at Merchiston Tower in Edinburgh,
Scotland, developed the decimal point, logarithms and
Napier’s bones—an abacus for the calculation of
products and quotients of numbers. Hand performed
calculations were made much easier by the use of
logarithms, which made possible many later scientific
advancements. Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis
Descriptio or in English "Description of the Marvelous
Canon of Logarithms", his mathematical work, contained
thirty-seven pages of explanatory matter and ninety
pages of tables, which furthered advancements in
astronomy, dynamics and physics. Based on Napier’s
algorithms in 1622, William Oughtred (1574 - 1660)
invented the circular slide rule for calculating multiplication and division. In 1632 he
published Circles of Proportion and the Horizontal Instrument, which described slide
rules and sundials. By 1650 the sliding stick form of the slide rule was developed. In
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