Multiplication by addition using logarithms is possible and took place in past using slide rule and log tables. Is it still used in software? Maybe sometimes it's faster to convert numbers and use addition operations instead of multiplication, then convert numbers back? Is it used somewhere? If yes, where?
2026-05-16 02:35:44.1778898944
Multiplication using addition using logarithms
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It always depends. There is always a tradeoff in time, memory and precision. At a fixed precision you can storing all the answers in memory and just look them up. In the case of log tables you can only get 4 significant figures at most before the energy you spend carrying the tables becomes more than the energy needed to calculate the logarithm yourself. (Your energy consumption may vary.) But modern hardware does not use log tables, not to say software, since we want many more significant figures. However, it is not known what is the optimal algorithm for multiplication or computing the elementary functions, including the exponential and the logarithm.