Details
A SET OF NAPIER'S BONES
GERMAN, EARLY 18TH CENTURY
Comprising seventeen fruitwood multiplier rods numbered in ink, complete in a contemporary tooled mottled leather case. Modern acetate display stand and cover with wooden base.
3 ½ x 2 ¾in. (9.1 x 6.7cm.)

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.
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