Topic: Logarithms

Definition: The logarithm base b of x is denoted by logb x, where both b and x should be positive. The
expression logb x asks, to what power must I raise b in order to get x? In other words, if x = bn , then
logb x = n, because x is b to the nth power.

Logarithms are the inverse functions of exponentials. In particular, logb bx = x and blogb x = x .

When there is a product inside a log, we can split the log into the sum of two logs: logb xy = logb x + logb y

x
When there is a quotient inside a log, we can split the log into the difference of two logs: logb = logb x − logb y
y

When there is an exponent inside a log, the exponent can come outside as a multiplier: logb xn = n logb x

Note: everything inside the log must be raised to the same exponent in order to pull the exponent out.
For example, logb xn y 6= n logb xy, but logb xn y n = logb (xy)n = n logb xy.

logc x
Lastly, we have the change of base formula: logb x = for any intermediate base c.
logc b

1
Another nice property of logs is that logx y = .
logy x

Examples

1
1. Find x such that 8x = .
4
1
The answer to this question is equivalent to calculating log8 . By the change of base formula, this is
4
log 1/4 log 2−2
. Now, we write everything in powers of two, to obtain . By the property for exponents
log 8 log 23
−2 log 2 −2
inside of logs, we obtain = .
3 log 2 3

1
2. For the function f (x) = ( )x , calculate f (4).
2
1 1 1
We simply plug in 4 for x, to obtain f (4) = ( )4 = 4 = .
2 2 16
3. Find the exponential function f (x) = ax which passes through the point (3, 64).

This problem is asking us to find the value of a which √

 4 5
xy
4. Use the properties of logarithms to rewrite the expression log in the form A log x + B log y +
z7
1
C log z.

We first apply the properties for products and quotients inside of logs to obtain log x4 + log y 5 − log z 7 .
Then we apply the property for an exponent inside a log to obtain 4 log x + 5 log y − 7 log z. Therefore,
A = 4, B = 5, C = −7.

5. Rewrite the expression log 2 + 3 log x − 4 log(x − 1) as a single logarithm.

This is like the previous problem, but in reverse. First we change 3 log x into log x3 and 4 log(x − 1) into
log(x − 1)4 . The addition of logs becomes the log of a product, so we get log 2x3 − log(x − 1)4 , and the
2x3
difference of logs becomes the log of a quotient, so we obtain log .
(x − 1)4

6. Evaluate log4 .0625.

625
Since 4 is a power of 2, we aim to write .0625 as a power of 2 as well. By writing .0625 =
10000
1
and reducing the fraction, we find that .0625 = . By the change of base formula, the desired log is
16
log 1/16 log 2−4 −4 log 2 −4
= 2
= = = −2
log 4 log 2 2 log 2 2

7. Evaluate log 4 + log 25.

The efficient way to do this problem is to combine the logs, rather than trying to calculate the values
separately and then adding them. When we combine the logs using the sum/product property, we obtain
log 4 · 25 = log 100 = log 102 . Now, the log and the exponential cancel (since log means the logarithm base
10) so the answer is 2.

8. Evaluate 9log3 2 .

We want the log and the exponential to cancel, but can’t cancel them yet because the base of the expo-
nential is not the same as the base of the log. So we write 9 = 32 and use properties of exponents to
rearrange: 9log3 2 = (32 )log3 2 = 32 log 32 = (3log3 2 )2 = 22 = 4. The logs do cancel in the second to last step
because the bases are the same.