Logarithms as Inverse Exponentials
Throughout suppose that a>1. The function y=loga(x) is the inverse of the function
y=ax. In other words,
whenever these make sense.
Examples:
- Since 103=1000, log10(1000)=3.
- Since 2−3=1/8, log2(1/8)=−3.
- 10log10(17)=17 and 2log2(.038)=.038
- Since a0=1, no matter what a is, loga(1)=0.
In general loga(x) will be positive for x>1 and negative for x<1.
- The domain of ax is (−∞,∞), so the range of
loga(x) is (−∞,∞).
- The range of ax is (0,∞), so the domain of loga(x) is
(0,∞). We cannot take the log of zero or the log of a negative
number.
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Laws of Logarithms
The laws of logs follow from the law of exponents. Provided that x>0 and y>0 we have:
- loga(xy)=loga(x)+loga(y)
- loga(x/y)=loga(x)−loga(y)
- loga(xr)=rloga(x)
- logb(x)=loga(x)logb(a)
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The last property (also known as the change of basis formula) shows in particular that all log functions are the same, up to scale.
Graphs
Below are the graphs when a>1 or 0<a<1.
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