"Napier's Bones" in wooden box

P7100329

 

Napier's bones is a manually-operated calculating device created by John Napier of Merchiston, Scotland for the calculation of products and quotients of numbers. The method was based on lattice multiplication, and also called 'rabdology', a word invented by Napier.

 

History / biography

> www.17centurymaths.com/contents/napier/jimsnewstuff/Napie...

> mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Napier/

> collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co60130/napi...

 

How it works:

> mathworld.wolfram.com/NapiersBones.html

> www.cut-the-knot.org/blue/Napier.shtml

 

(I made this shot with the Olympus Tough TG5 on the Underwater setting. Seriously. The underwater setting gave the best light in the make-shift studio set-up with daylight and with only a bit of sharpening in PS).

 

All recently inspired by:

www.flickr.com/photos/189866730@N08/52199576171/in/faves-...

 

Done