Prior to the advent of computers, no mathematician, physicist or engineer could do without a volume of tables of logarithmic and trigonometric functions. These tables made possible certain calculations which would otherwise be impossible. Unfortunately, carelessness and lazy plagiarism meant that the tables often contained serious errors. Those prepared by Charles Hutton (1737 1823) were notable for their reliability and remained the standard for a century. Hutton had risen, by mathematical ability, hard work and some luck, from humble beginnings to become a professor of mathematics at the...