The method which Napier terms "Rabdologia" consists in the use of certain numerating rods for the performance of multiplications and divisions.
The second method, which he calls the "Promptuarium Multiplicationis" on account of its being the most expeditious of all for the performance of multiplications, involves the use of a number of lamellae or little plates of metal disposed in a box.
When algebra had advanced to the point where exponents were introduced, nothing would be more natural than that their utility as a means of performing multiplications and divisions should be remarked; but it is one of the surprises in the history of science that logarithms were invented as an arithmetical improvement years before their connexion with exponents was known.
1890, p. 490) that exp(mldl +m2d2+m3d3+...) = exp (Midi +M2d2+M3d3+...), where now the multiplications on the dexter denote successive operations, provided that pp t exp(MiE+M2 2+M3E3+...) +mlH+m2V+m3S3+..., being an undetermined algebraic quantity.
Where the multiplications on the leftand right-hand sides of the equation are symbolic and unsymbolic respectively, provided that m P4, M P4 are quantities which satisfy the relation exp (M14+Moir+...+Mp4EpnP+...) =1+mic -Fmoif+...+mp,eng+...; where E, n are undetermined algebraic quantities.
