GERMAN, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Seeking to ease difficulties in calculating logarithmic tables, and impatient with the tedious and error-prone process of working with large numbers, John Napier (1550-1617) devised several mechanical methods of simplifying and speeding up multiplication, the most famous being the rods known as 'Napier's bones,' first published in his Rabdologiae of 1617.