The Mercedarian friar Diego Rodríguez (1596-1668) is considered to have been the mathematician who first introduced the study of logarithms in the New Spain, just twenty years after the development of this technique of calculation by John Napier (1550-1617). We must not forget that logarithms were developed as a method to carry out arithmetic calculations quickly, which was essential for astronomical calculations as well as for other sciences. Why did logarithms arrive in Mexico years before they were used in Spain? Was the isolated genius of Diego Rodríguez which enabled such a result, or there are objective reasons to understand the delay of Spain in the 17th century mathematics? In order to find answers to these questions, I will consider another example for comparison: the introduction of logarithms in China by the Jesuits in the middle of the 17th century, as a way for the spread of Christianity.