I hear logarithms mentioned quite a lot in the programming context. They seem to be the solution to many problems and yet I can't seem to find a real-world way of making use of them. I've read the Wikipedia entry and that, quite frankly, leaves me none the wiser.
So, where can I learn about the real-world programming problems that logarithms solve? Has anyone got any examples of problems they faced that were solved by implementing a logarithm?
Say you've got $1000, and it's in a savings account with 2.4% interest.
How many years do you have to wait until you have $2000 to buy a new laptop?
1000 × 1.024x = 2000
1.024x = 2
x = log 1.024 2 = 29.23 years