Lecture 4 : General Logarithms and Exponentials.

For a > 0 and x any real number, we define

ax = ex ln a , a > 0.

The function ax is called the exponential function with base a.

Note that ln(ax ) = x ln a is true for all real numbers x and all a > 0. (We saw this before for x a
rational number).
Note: We have no definition for ax when a < 0, when x is irrational.
√ √ √ √
For example 2 2
=e 2 ln 2
, 2− 2 , (−2) 2 (no definition).
Algebraic rules
The following Laws of Exponent follow from the laws of exponents for the natural exponential func-
tion.
ax
ax+y = ax ay ax−y = y (ax )y = axy (ab)x = ax bx
a
Proof ax+y = e(x+y) ln a = ex ln a+y ln a = ex ln a ey ln a = ax ay . etc...
2 +1
(ax )2 ax
Example Simplify a2
.

Differentiation
The following differentiation rules also follow from the rules of differentiation for the natural expo-
nential.
d x d x ln a d g(x) d g(x) ln a
(a ) = (e ) = ax ln a (a ) = e = g 0 (x)ag(x) ln a
dx dx dx dx

Example Differentiate the following function:

2 +1
f (x) = (1000)2x .

Graphs of Exponential functions. Case 1: 0 < a < 1

• y-intercept: The y-intercept is given by y = a0 = e0 ln a = e0 = 1.

• x-intercept: The values of ax = ex ln a are always positive and there is no x intercept.

1
 d
• Slope: If 0 < a < 1, the graph of y = ax has a negative slope and is always decreasing, dx
(ax ) =
ax ln a < 0. In this case a smaller value of a gives a steeper curve.
d2
• The graph is concave up since the second derivative is dx2
(ax ) = ax (ln a)2 > 0.
• As x → ∞, x ln a approaches −∞, since ln a < 0 and therefore ax = ex ln a → 0.
• As x → −∞, x ln a approaches ∞, since both x and ln a are less than 0. Therefore ax = ex ln a → ∞.
For 0 < a < 1, lim ax = 0, lim ax = ∞ .
x→∞ x→−∞

y=H12Lx

50
y=H14Lx

40 y=H18Lx

30 y=1x

20

10

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Graphs of Exponential functions. Case 2: a > 1

• y-intercept: The y-intercept is given by y = a0 = e0 ln a = e0 = 1.
• x-intercept: The values of ax = ex ln a are always positive and there is no x intercept.
d
• If a > 1, the graph of y = ax has a positive slope and is always increasing, dx
(ax ) = ax ln a > 0.
d2
• The graph is concave up since the second derivative is dx2
(ax ) = ax (ln a)2 > 0.
• In this case a larger value of a gives a steeper curve.
• As x → ∞, x ln a approaches ∞, since ln a > 0 and therefore ax = ex ln a → ∞
• As x → −∞, x ln a approaches −∞, since x < 0 and ln a > 0. Therefore ax = ex ln a → 0.

For a > 1, lim ax = ∞, lim ax = 0 .

x→∞ x→−∞

y=2x

120

y=4x
100

y=8x 80

60

40

20

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2
 Functions of the form (f (x))g(x) .
Derivatives We now have 4 different types of functions involving bases and powers. So far we have
dealt with the first three types:
If a and b are constants and g(x) > 0 and f (x) and g(x) are both differentiable functions.

d b d d g(x) d
a = 0, (f (x))b = b(f (x))b−1 f 0 (x), a = g 0 (x)ag(x) ln a, (f (x))g(x)
dx dx dx dx
d
For dx (f (x))g(x) , we use logarithmic differentiation or write the function as (f (x))g(x) = eg(x) ln(f (x))
and use the chain rule.
2
Example Differentiate x2x , x > 0.

Limits
To calculate limits of functions of this type it may help write the function as (f (x))g(x) = eg(x) ln(f (x)) .
Example What is limx→∞ x−x

General Logarithmic functions

Since f (x) = ax is a monotonic function whenever a 6= 1, it has an inverse which we denote by
f −1 (x) = loga x. We get the following from the properties of inverse functions:

f −1 (x) = y if and only if f (y) = x

loga (x) = y if and only if ay = x

f (f −1 (x)) = x f −1 (f (x)) = x

aloga (x) = x loga (ax ) = x.

3
 Converting to the natural logarithm
It is not difficult to show that loga x has similar properties to ln x = loge x. This follows from the
Change of Base Formula which shows that The function loga x is a constant multiple of ln x.

ln x
loga x =
ln a

The algebraic properties of the natural logarithm thus extend to general logarithms, by the change of
base formula.

loga 1 = 0, loga (xy) = loga (x) + loga (y), loga (xr ) = r loga (x).
for any positive number a 6= 1. In fact for most calculations (especially limits, derivatives and integrals)
it is advisable to convert loga x to natural logarithms. The most commonly used logarithm functions
are log10 x and ln x = loge x.
Since loga x is the inverse function of ax , it is easy to derive the properties of its graph from the graph
y = ax , or alternatively, from the change of base formula loga x = ln x
ln a
.

10

10

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y=2x y=H12Lx

-4 -2 2 4
-5
y=Log2 x y=Log12 x

Basic Application
√
Example Express as a single number log5 25 − log5 5

4
 Using the change of base formula for Derivatives
From the above change of base formula for loga x, we can easily derive the following differentiation
formulas:
d 1 d g 0 (x)
(loga x) = (loga g(x)) = .
dx x ln a dx g(x) ln a

d
Example Find dx
log2 (x sin x).

A special limit and an approximation of e

We derive the following limit formula by taking the derivative of f (x) = ln x at x = 1:

ln(1 + x)
lim = lim ln(1 + x)1/x = 1.
x→0 x x→0

Applying the (continuous) exponential function to the limit we get

e = lim (1 + x)1/x
x→0

Note If we substitute y = 1/x in the above limit we get

1 y
  1 n
e = lim 1 + and e = lim 1+
y→∞ y n→∞ n

where n is an integer (see graphs below). We look at large values of n below to get an approximation
of the value ofe. n  n
1 1
n = 10 → 1 + n = 2.59374246, n = 100 → 1 + n = 2.70481383,
 n  n
1 1
n = 100 → 1 + n
= 2.71692393, n = 1000 → 1 + n
= 2.1814593.

Example Find limx→0 (1 + x2 )1/x .

5
 y = H1 + xL1x
9

-1.0 -0.5 0.5 1.0

y = H1 + 1xLx
2.70

2.68

2.66

2.64

2.62

2.60

2.58

2.56
20 40 60 80 100

points Hn, H1 + 1nLn L, n = 1...100

2.70

2.68

2.66

2.64

2.62

2.60

2.58

20 40 60 80 100