ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

John Napier

John Napier was a very smart man who lived a long time ago. He was born in Scotland in the year 1550. He is famous for inventing something called logarithms, which help us do difficult math problems more easily.

Let's say you have to do a really big math problem like 456 + 675 - 236. It can be hard to add and subtract all those big numbers in your head or on paper. But that's where logarithms come in!

Napier made a special chart called a "logarithmic table." This chart helps you turn big numbers into smaller ones, which makes it much easier to do math. It's like turning a big apple into lots of tiny apples—it's easier to manage and handle the smaller pieces.

Back in the days before calculators and computers, mathematicians had to do all their work by hand. This was really time-consuming! But Napier's invention made it faster and easier to do complicated math.

John Napier was such a smart man that he did lots of other cool things too. For example, he even worked on ways to make ships sail faster.

So, in short, John Napier was a very important person in the history of math. He made it easier for us to do hard math problems and helped us save time when doing math by hand.
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