Now about that e….! There is this number,
2.718…., that crops up in mathematical analysis for virtually every
field of scientific and engineering activity. But this constant is
virtually unknown to people who are not involved in a technical or
mathematical field. The
number is called Euler’s number (not “Euler’s constant”,
that’s a different number) and is represented by the letter
e.
Like Pi the value of
e
is an irrational number with no pattern of repeating digits after
the decimal.
e crops up in so many mathematical analyses, in
almost every field of investigation, that its importance is hard to
exaggerate. It is the basis for the natural logarithms that appear
in every table of logarithms. It is prominent in many facets of
differential and integral calculus and many statistical equations
(don’t scream and run away – I won’t mention calculus or statistics
again). It even shows up in many financial analysis equations. Yet
if you are not a scientist or engineer, there is a fair chance that
you have never heard of
e.
Curiously, the closest brush with
e for most non-technical people may have to do with
evaluating the impact of natural disasters. The
Fujita scale for indicating the intensity of tornados, the
Saffir-Simpson scale for categorizing
hurricanes, and most notably the Richter scale for evaluating
earthquakes. What these scales have in common is that they
are keyed to the energy released (and so to the damage inflicted)
when the phenomenon occurs. And the energy variation from one scale
level to the next is typically a factor that ranges between 2 and
3. The Richter scale is in fact defined as an exponential scale
with a factor of 2.718 between levels. So when a natural disaster
is reported on television, the numbers used to characterize these
disasters is an exponential (approximately) scale based on
e.
The discovery of
e
is attributed to Jacob Bernoulli in the early
1600’s. It was first
documented in a table of logarithms published in 1618 by John
Napier. In 2007 the value of
e
was computed to over 100 billion decimal digits (that’s
right---billion). Fortunately, you will only need the first 20 of
those digits. But enough of the boring stuff.
All along the beachfront on AIA in Volusia
County are these delightful little parks with a few parking spaces,
restrooms, small picnic and play areas and walking access to the
beach. You can easily drive right by them unless you are looking
for them. And Larry Fonari Sr. Park is
perhaps the smallest of these.
You are looking for a small pill bottle in a
fairly high-muggle area. But when the
sun and the sea breeze are cooperating, it’s a nice way to spend a
little time. You might even want to bring along a light picnic
lunch. Oops! I think I already said that.
e will lead you to the cache at:
N
513
1413 . 11717
W
14614
124 . 9212