In message <1888079c4e.tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Tim Powys-Lybbe <tim@xxxxxxxxx> writes
You should rejoice in the opportunity to do something new and useful to the rest of mankind. Think of Napier when he invented slide rules and log tables: it must have taken him years to do all the sums for all the numbers. But Napier must have rejoiced in doing this
So did Napier have copyright, software patent etc. on his numbers, and sell "Ye Log Tables 1600" which had some of the bugs fixed so you didn't navigate off the edge of the world as often.
The truth is quite interesting: http://www.freewebs.com/keiichi_suzuki/book/napier/ -- David Pilling email: david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx web: http://www.davidpilling.net post: David Pilling P.O. Box 22 Thornton Cleveleys Blackpool. FY5 1LR UK fax: +44(0)870-0520-941