am investigating the importance of logarithms, in today's world. After surfing for hours on the web, all I found was that logs play a vital role in finance and astronomy. I could not find any further details. What I would like to know is how help in finance and astronomy.
Logarithms can play a role anywhere you will find exponentials. In my field of engineering, an exponent can make it difficult to find some correlations to events, but a logarithm can linearize the equation to make it more manageable to solve. Also, graphically, log-log graphs can be easier to read and "see" the correlation between events. Where exponents exists in an equations, logarithms could be used in solving for certain variables related to the exponents. For example in biology, the growth of bacteria can be measure with the equation y(new)=y(old)*e^xt, where y(new) is the count of bacteria, y(old) is the previous amount of bacteria, x is a variable dependent on the bacteria strain, and t in the time of growth. In order to find t, one would have to use logarithms to solve for t. Although outdated because of advances in computers and calculators, logarithms are what make slide rules work. They allowed the linear addition (or subtraction) of logarithm which in turn is multiplication (and division) of numbers. If you happen to find an old slide rule, I suggest you learn how to use it by getting a slide rule manual at your local library. It gives you a good idea of how and why logarithms work. Also, you might look into the history of it a little more by looking for information on Napier. Good luck.