Thursday, December 09, 2004
Point!
Thanks, reader! No thanks, junk filter!
Allen pointed out a great comment from The Chron, but his notice found its way into my junk mail box. So, slightly delayed:
"The BCS logarithms overemphasize particular games and give insufficient credit to consistent victory and strength throughout the season." (emphasis mine)
From former ASUC prez Grant Harris. But who knows, maybe the BCS uses logarithms.
This raises an interesting question. Why do algorithm and logarithm sound so similar? Did Al fight with a log over the rithm? They aren't that closely related. A logarithm is a specific, defined mathematical function, while an algorithm is essentially a series of defined steps to accomplish some goal (usually used in a programming context).
My curiosity piqued, I headed to dictionary.com to see what they have to say about logarithm.
Log: Comes from logos which is given as reason and proportion. (Same word for both? Who knows. Greeks were crazy)
Arithm: Comes from arithmos for number, so that makes sense, I guess.
Algorithm comes from algorism which refers to the Arabic number system (i.e. the zero through nine number system we use) and also to computations done using that system. The term comes from the name of a Persian who did an early work on arithmetic: Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi. Al-Khwarismi became algorismus in Latin, and so on. (Some info from Wikipedia)
So, despite their use in similar fields and their similar sounding names, algorithm and logarithm have completely different origins. Yay for learning useless trivia!
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