Sentence:  To replace logarithmic tables with natural tables required some time. This seems like a modern age, yet I am not an octogenarian and I can remember the <WSD>dying gasp</WSD> of the logarithmic table as the standard method of computation. I have seen the desk calculator become a necessary instrument for every scientist who is doing quantitative work. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The last moments, or final period, of something that becomes obsolete or inactive.