"Euler's number" redirects here.

For other uses, see List of things named after Leonhard Euler
Euler's numbers.

The graph is , and e is the unique number that makes the shaded area equal to 1.
Part of a series of articles on the

mathematical constant e

Properties

Natural logarithm

Exponential function
Applications

compound interest

Euler's identity

Euler's formula

half-lives
exponentialgrowth and decay

Defining e
proof that e is irrational

representations of e

LindemannWeierstrass theorem
People

John Napier
Leonhard Euler
Related topics

Schanuel's conjecture

The number e is a mathematical constant that is the base of the natural logarithm: the unique
number whose natural logarithm is equal to one. It is approximately equal to 2.71828,[1] and is
the limit of (1 + 1/n)n as n approaches infinity, an expression that arises in the study ofcompound
interest. It can also be calculated as the sum of the infinite series[2]
The constant can be characterized in many different ways. For example, e can be defined as the
unique positive number a such that the graph of the function y = ax has unit slope at x = 0.[3] The
function f(x) = ex is called the (natural) exponential function. The natural logarithm,
or logarithm to base e, is the inverse function to the natural exponential function. The natural
logarithm of a positive number kcan be defined directly as the area under the curve y =

1/x between x = 1 and x = k, in which case e is the value of k for which this area equals one
(see image). There are alternative characterizations.
Sometimes called Euler's number after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, e is not to be
confused with , the EulerMascheroni constant, sometimes called simply Euler's constant. The
number e is also known as Napier's constant, but Euler's choice of the symbol eis said to have
been retained in his honor.[4] The constant was discovered by the Swiss mathematician Jacob
Bernoulli while studying compound interest.[5]