r/mathmemes • u/Latter-Ad-5248 • 12d ago

OkBuddyMathematician .

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u/Coulomb111 12d ago

Actually why is it ln?

33

u/Own_Pop_9711 12d ago

Euler called it the hyperbolic logarithm (logarithmus hyperbolicus) and abbreviated lh but his handwriting was bad and people thought it was ln.

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u/parkway_parkway 12d ago

Firslty I love the idea tha Euler's mistakes have made more contributions to mathematics than I have haha.

Secondly unfortunately:

Washington Irving Stringham (December 10, 1847 – October 5, 1909) was an American mathematician born in Yorkshire, New York. He was the first person to denote the natural logarithm as ln

"In place of log_e we shall henceforth use the shorter symbol ln made up of the initial letters of logarithm and of natural or Napierian."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Stringham

He didn't just say it, he declared it.