Abstract
What is are logarithms (logs) and why should doctors need to know about them? The answer lies in the history of computation and the first steps towards making medicine scientific. Before digital computation, logs provided a quick way of computing the multiplication of complicated products, by transforming these complicated products into simple sums. Logs were computational shortcuts when the user required ratios to effect the computation. Logs also allowed different measurements to be compared, especially across large scales. These scales persist in medicine today, especially in nuclear medicine and internal medicine. This article defines the concepts used in developing the logarithm rigorously. It places the development of the logarithm in historical context and shows an example of why they were useful in pre-computer eras. I finish the article showing a large series of examples of the use of logarithms in medical situations.
This Version: 0.4, March 26, 2007.
http://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=985&RPID=946
http://www.med.harvard.edu/JPNM/physics/didactics/basics.html
http://www.medicine-nuclear.info
Here are some great Nuclear Medicine Resources.
Thanks Christian!
Steve