Logarithm
Introduction
Logarithms and exponents are very closely related. In fact, they are inverse functions. Basically, this means that logarithms can be used to reverse the result of exponentiation and vice versa just as addition can be used to reverse the result of subtraction. Thus, if we have , then taking the logarithm with base
on both sides will give us
.
We would read this as "the logarithm of b, base a, is x". For example, we know that . To express this in Logarithmic notation, we would write it as
.
When a logarithm has no base, it is assumed to be base 10. Thus, means
.
Logarithmic Properties
We can use the properties of exponents to build a set of properties for logarithms.
We know that . We let
and
. This also makes
. From
we have
and from
we have
. So
. But we also have from
that
Thus, we have found two expressions for
establishing the identity:
![$\log_a{b} + \log_a{c} = \log_a{bc}.$](http://latex.artofproblemsolving.com/e/b/3/eb36932b21a6a980e7139766aff531b438dad9f1.png)
Using the laws of exponents, we can derive and prove the following identities:
Try proving all of these as excercises.
Problems
- Evaluate
- Simplify
where
.