Excellent, thanks. Found this page too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_logarithm
I have only a vague idea of the following means,
Quote:
Logarithms can be defined to any positive base other than 1, not just e, and are useful for solving equations in which the unknown appears as the exponent of some other quantity.
But it gets me a little further to understand the equation. Page 40 onwards in this book here, has more complex sets of equations to describe the thermal properties of floors, than the ones I need to use. But you can get a general idea of where the math is coming from. (Why so many pie and natural logarithms are required)
This is the part, I had to download the calculator instructions to understand the other day!
Quote:
In hand-held calculators, the natural logarithm is denoted ln, whereas log is the base 10 logarithm.
I especially liked this quote:
Quote:
Initially, it might seem that since our numbering system is base 10, this base would be more "natural" than base e. But mathematically, the number 10 is not particularly significant. Its use culturally—as the basis for many societies’ numbering systems—likely arises from humans’ typical number of fingers.[5] Other cultures have based their counting systems on such choices as 5, 8, 12, 20, and 60.
gareth
