Vanier College Sec V Mathematics

Department of Mathematics 201-015-50

Worksheet: Logarithmic Function

1. Find the value of y.
1
(1) log5 25 = y (2) log3 1 = y (3) log16 4 = y (4) log2 =y
8
1 1
(5) log5 1 = y (6) log2 8 = y (7) log7 =y (8) log3 =y
7 9
1 1 1
(9) logy 32 = 5 (10) log9 y = − (11) log4 =y (12) log9 =y
2 8 81

2. Evaluate.

(1) log 3 8
3 1 (2) log4 4 (3) log7 73 (4) blogb (3) log25 53 (4) 16log4

3. Write the following expressions in terms of logs of x, y and z.

√ √
(1) log x2y (2) log x3y2 x 3 y2
(3) log (4) log xyz
z z4
x
(5) log (6) log
x
2
√
log x z
1
yz (7) log (xy)3 (8)
y
r
√3 r√x
x x3y2 xy2
(9) log √ (10) log (12) log
3
yz r (11) log x
4
z4 z z8
1 . Write the following equalities in exponential form.

(1) log3 81 = 4 (2) log7 7 = 1 (3) log 1

1 =3 (4) log3 1 = 0
2 8
1 1 1
(5) log4 = −3 (6) log6 = −2 (7) logx y = z (8) logm n =
64 36 2

5. Write the following equalities in logarithmic form.

1 (4) 1
(1) 82 = 64 (2) 103 = 10000 (3) 4−2 = 3−4 =
16 81

−5 −3
1 1 √
(5) = 32 (6) = 27 (7) x2z = y (8) x=y
2 3

6. True or False?

x
(1) log y3 = log x − 3 log y (2) log(a − b) = log a − log b (3) log xk = k · log x

log a
(4) (log a)(log b) = log(a + b) (5) = log(a— b) (6) (ln a)k = k · ln a
log b

1 x
(7) loga aa = a (8) − ln x = ln x (9) ln√ xk = 2k

7. Solve the following logarithmic equations.

(1) ln x = −3 (2) log(3x − 2) = 2

(3) 2 log x = log 2 + log(3x − 4) (4) log x + log(x − 1) = log(4x)

(5) log3(x + 25) − log3(x − 1) = 3 (6) log9(x − 5) + log9(x + 3) = 1

(7) log x + log(x − 3) = 1 (8) log2(x − 2) + log2(x + 1) = 2

 8. Prove the following statements.

(1) log√b √ √
x=2 x (2) log √1 x=− x (3) logb4 x2 = logb x
logb logb
b

9. Given that log 2 = x, log 3 = y and log 7 = z, express the following expressions
in terms of x, y, and z.
14
(1) log 12 (2) log 200 (3) log (4) log 0.3
3
6000
(5) log 1.5 (6) log 10.5 (7) log 15 (8) log
7

10. Solve the following equations.

(1) 3x − 2 = 12 (2) 31−x = 2

(3) 4x = 5x+1 (4) 61−x = 10x

10
(5) 32x+1 = 2x−2 (6) = 2
1 + e−x

(7) 52x − 5x − 12 = 0 (8) e2x − 2ex = 15

11. Draw the graph of each of the following logarithmic functions, and analyze each
of them completely.

(1) f (x) = log x (2) f (x) = log −x

(3) f (x) = − log(x − 3) (4) f (x) = −2 log3(3 − x)

1
(5) f (x) = − ln(x + 1) (6) f (x) = 2 ln (x + 3)
2
(7) f (x) = ln(2x + 4) (8) f (x) = −2 ln(−3x + 6)
12. Find the inverse of each of the following functions.

(1) f (x) = log2(x − 3) − 5 (2) f (x) = 3 log3(x + 3) +

1
(3) f (x) = −2 log 2(x − 1) + 2 (4) f (x) = − ln(1 − 2x) +
1
3x
(5) f (x) = 2x − 3 (6) f (x) = 2 · 3 − 1

(7) f (x) = −5 · e−x + 2 (8) f (x) = 1 − 2e−2x

13. 15 000$ is invested in an account that yeilds 5% interest per year. After how
many years will the account be worth 91 221.04$ if the interest is compounded
yearly?

14. 8 000$ is invested in an account that yeilds 6% interest per year. After how
many years will the account be worth 13709.60$ if the interest is compounded
monthly?

15. Starting at the age of 40, an average man loses 5% of his hair every year. At
what age should an average man expect to have half his hair left?

16. A bacteria culture starts with 10 00 bacteria and the number doubles every 40
minutes.

(a) Find a formula for the number of bacteria at time t.

(b) Find the number of bacteria after one hour.
(c) After how many minutes will there be 50 000 bacteria?
ANSWERS

1. (1) 2
3. (1) 2 log x + log y
(2) 0
1 (2) 3 log x + 2 log y − log z
(3)
2 1 2
—
(4) −3 (3) log x + log y 4 log z
2 3
(5) 0 (4) log x + log y + log z

(6) 3 (5) log x − log y − log z

(6) 2 log x − 2 log y

(7) −1 1 1
(7) log x log y
(8) −2 +3 3
1
(9) 2 (8) log x + 2 log z
1
(10) 1 (9) (log x − log y − log z)
3 31 1
3 (10) log x + log y − log z
(11) − 2
4
5 12
(12) −2 (11) log x − log z
4
1 2
(12) log x + log y − 4 log z
2. (1) 0 2

(2) 1

(3) 3

(4) 3
3
(5)
2
(6) 64
4. (1) 34 = 81 6. (1) True

(2) 71 = 7 (2) False

3
1 1
(3) = (3) True
2 8
(4) 30 = 1 (4) False
1
(5) 4−3 = (5) False
64
1
(6) 6−2 = (6) False
36
(7) xz = y (7) True

1
(8) True
(8) m 2 = n

7. (1) S = {e−3}
5. (1) log8 64 = 2
(2) S = {34}
(2) log10 10000 = 3
1 (3) S = {2, 4}
(3) log4 = −2
16
1 (4) S = {5}
(4) log3 = −4
81 (5) S = {2}
(5) log 32 = —5
1
2

(6) S = {6}
(6) log 1 27 = —3
3

(7) S = {5}
(7) logx y = 2z
1 (8) S = {3}
(8) logx y =
2
8. (1) 9. (1) 2x + y
log√b x = 2 logb
x (2) x + 2

log√b x = log√x (3) x − y + z

log b
log x (4) y − 1
= 1
2
log b
log x
=2 (5) y − x
log b
= 2 logb x (6) y + z − x

(2) √ (7) 1 − x + y
log √1 x = − logb x
b
(8) x + y − z + 3
√
√ log x
log √1 x = log 1
b √
b
1
log x 10. (1) S = {2.402}
2
= 1
— 2 log (2) S = {0.369}
b
log x
=− (3) S = {−7.213}
log b
= − logb x (4) S = {0.438}
(3)
logb4 x2 = logb (5) S = {−1.652}
√
x

logb4 x2 = log x2
(6) S = {− ln 4}
log
b4
2 log x (7) S = {log5 4}
=
4 log b
1 log x (8) S = {ln 5}
=
2 log b
1
= logb x
2 √
= logb x
11. (1) (2)

Dom(f ) = ]0, +
∞ Dom(f ) = ]— ∞ ,
0[ R(f ) = R
[ R(f ) = R Zeros: —1
Zeros: 1 Y-intercept: None
Y-intercept: None Variation:
Variation: f (x) 3 if x ∈
f (x) 3 if x ∈]0, + [ f (x) ∅
& if x ∈] − , 0[
f (x) & if x ∞∈ ∞
Extremums: Max: None, Min: None
∅
Extremums: Max: None, Min: None Sign:
Sign: f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈] − ∞, −1]
f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈]0, 1] f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈ [−1, 0[
f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈ [1, +∞[
(3) (4)

Dom(f ) = ]3, +
∞ Dom(f ) = ]— ∞ ,
3[ R(f ) = R
[ R(f ) = R Zeros: 2
Zeros: 4 Y-intercept: —
Y-intercept: None
Variation: 2 Variation:
f (x) 3 if x ∈ f (x) 3 if x ∈] − ,
f (x) ∅
& if x ∈]3, + [ ∞
3[ f (x)
& if x ∈
Extremums: ∞ Max: None, Min: None ∅
Extremums: Max: None, Min: None
Sign: Sign:
f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈]3, 4] f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈]2, 3[
f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈ [4, +∞[ f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈] − ∞, 2[
(5) (6)

Dom(f ) = ]—1, +∞ Dom(f ) = ] —3, +∞

[ R(f ) [ R(f )
= R = R
Zeros: 0
−1
Y-intercept: 0 Y-intercept: 2 ln 3
Zeros:
Variation: 2
Variation:
f (x) 3 if x ∈
f (x) 3 if x ∈ ] − 3, + [
f (x) ∅
& if x ∈] − 1, + [
f (x) & if x ∞
∈
Extremums: ∞ Max: None, Min: None ∅
Extremums: Max: None, Min: None
Sign:
Sign:
f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈] − 1, 0[
f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈ [−1, +∞[
f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈]0, +∞[
f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈ ] − 3, −1]
(7) (8)

Dom(f ) = ]—2, +∞ Dom(f ) = ]— ∞ ,

[ R(f ) 2[ R(f ) = R
= R Zeros: 5
Zeros: —1.5 3
Y-intercept: ln Y-intercept: —2 ln 6
4 Variation: Variation:
f (x) 3 if x ∈] − 2, + [ f (x) 3 if x ∈ ] − ,
f (x) & if x ∞∈ ∞
2[ f (x)
& if x ∈
∅
Extremums: Max: None, Min: None ∅
Extremums: Max: None, Min: None
Sign: Sign:
f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈ [−1.5, +∞[ f (x) ≥ 0 if x ∈ [3 5 , 2[
f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈ ] − 2, −1.5] f (x) ≤ 0 if x ∈ ] − ∞,53 [
12. (1) f−1(x) = 2x+5 + 3
x−1
(2) f−1(x) = 3 3 −3

(3) f−1(x) = 1 2—x

10 2 + 1
2
1 1
(4) f−1(x) = − 2e1−x + 2

(5) f−1(x) = log2(x + 3)

1
(6) f−1(x) = log
3
3
x 2+ 1

5
2−x
(7) f (x) = − ln
−1

2 2
1 1−x
(8) f−1(x) = − ln

13. 37 years.

14. 9 years.

15. 53 years old.

16. (a) f (t) = 10000 · 21.5t. Where t is

the number of hours.
(b) 28 284 bacteria.
(c) 92.88 minutes.