Logarithmic is More Natural Than Linear
Nature has an article on why logarithmic scaling is more natural than linear scaling and a recent study that shows that linear scaling might be a cultural invention. Intuitively, going from 1 to 2 is a bigger change than going from 1,000 to 1,001. People generally realizes that, even if we don’t think of it as logarithms. Think about it. $100 difference when buying a house is not what people haggle over. However, if a waiter mistakenly adds $100 to a $50 meal, we would dispute the difference quite vigorously. In the absence of formal education, certain tribes of people demonstrated this concept by plotting numbers on a number line.
Interesting. Both Isaac Asimov (On Numbers) and John Allen Paulos (Innumeracy) considered various statistics for some specific topic and insisted on the clarity provided by using a logarithmic scale. Asimov considered weights of various animals. Paulos considered number of deaths per year caused by given activity.
Said by Eisenstein June 02nd, 2008 at about 10:24 PM