@fabian There isn't one, even historically, as far as I know (I am a mathematician, but not a historian of mathematics). The reason, I suppose, is historical happenstance. Most mathematical functions don't get their own symbol (sin, cos, tan, tanh, cosh...) and the log family is no exception; I think it is the square root that is the exception, whose first symbol was invented by Regiomontanus probably for his convenience.
@Mathemagician I don't have a suggestion. I'm not working in the field, nor am I an academic. I wouldn't know which symbols are still "free", or what would be practical. It's just a bit curious to me, that none was established in the past besides the rather verbose log₂x. I mean, with today's prevalence of programming, some prefer writing sqrt(x) and sum(…) or even list comprehensions over √x etc. – at least I've heard (probably not real mathematicians, though :)
Add comment