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TOPIC 2: EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

2.1 : Relationship Between Exponential And Logarithmic Functions

Example 1
Convert the following to logarithm form:
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a) 23 = 8 (b) 3-2 = (c) 2x = 47
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Example 2
Convert the following to exponential form/ index form:
a) log2 32 =5 (b) log3 27 = 3 (c) log2 y = x

Example 3
Find the value of each of the following:
(a) log 2 64 (b) log 3 1 (c) log 7 7 (d) log4 16-1
(e) log3  1  (f) log 8 0.25
 81 

The important property is y  ax a  0 , a 1

x  log a y , y  0, a  0, a  1
log a 1  0,
log a a  1,
log a a b  b,
log a  a  undefined / no solution

2.2: Properties of Logarithms

Law of logarithms.
There are four basic laws of logarithms.

(1) log a mn  log a m  log a n For two logarithms of the same base,
m loga M = loga N
(2) log a  log a m  log a n
n
Then, M = N
(3) log a m n  n log a m
log c b
(4)log a b 
log c a

Example 4
Simplify the following, expressing each as a single logarithm:
(a) log 2 4 + log 2 5 – log210
(b) 2log a 5 – 3 log a 2
(c) log 8 4 + log 2 16

Example 5
If log 2 = r and log 3 = s, express in terms of r and s
(a) log 16
(b) log 18
(c) log 13.5
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Exercise 2.1: Logarithmic and Exponential functions

1. Write each of the following in the form y = bx.

(a) log28 = 3
(b) log381 = 4
(c) log50.04 = -2
(d) log7x = 4
(e) logx5 = t
(f) logpq = r

2. Write each of the following in the form x = logby.

(a) 23 = 8
(b) 36 = 729
(c) 4-3 = 641
(d) a8 = 20
(e) h9 = g
(f) mn = p

3. Evaluate the following:

(a) log216
(b) log416
(c) log7 1
49
(d) log41
(e) log55
(f) log27 1
3
(g) log168
(h) log3 2 2
(i) log 2 8 2

4. Find the value of y in each of the following.

(a) logy 49 = 2
(b) log4 y = -3
(c) log3 81 = y
(d) log10 y = -1
(e) log2 y = 2.5
(f) logy 1296 = 4
(g) log 1 y  8
2

(h) log 1 1024  y

2
(i) logy 27 = -6

Page 34, Exercise 3A: Question 6, 7, 8, 9 (a) – (e)

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Exercise 2.2: Law of logarithms

1. Write each of the following in terms of log p, log q and log r. The logarithms have
base 10.
(a) log pqr
(b) log pq2r3
(c) log 100pr5
p
(d) log
q 2r
pq
(e) log 2
r
1
(f) log
pqr
p
(g) log
r
qr 7 p
(h) log
10
10 p 10 r
(i) log
q

2. Express as a single logarithm, simplifying where possible. (All the logarithms

have base 10, so, for example, an answer of log 100 simplifies to 2.)
(a) 2log 5 + log 4
(b) 2log 2 + log 150 – log 6000
(c) 3log 5 + 5 log3
(d) 2log 4 – 4log 2
(e) log 24  12 log 9  log 125
(f) 3log 2 + 3log 5 – log 106
(g) 12 log 16  13 log 8
(h) log 64 – 2log 4 + 5log 2 – log 27

3. If log 3 = p, log 5 = q, log 10 = r, express the following in terms of p, q and r. (All

the logarithms have the same unspecified base.)
(a) log 2
(b) log 45
(c) log 90
(d) log 0.2
(e) log 750
(f) log 60
(g) log 16
(h) log 4.05
(i) log0.15

Page 36, Exercise 3B: 1, 2, 3

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2.3 The relationship between a and logax

Exponential function is y = ax.

Logarithmic function is y = logax.

The graphical relationship between y = ax and y = logax is the reflection in the line
y = x.

The gradient of y = ex is ex.

The gradient of y = ln x is x -1.

The functions ex and ln x are inverse functions, the graph of y = ex and y = ln x are
mirror images in the line y = x.

The range of f : x  e x for x  R is f( x)  R  .

The range of f : x  ln x for x  R  is f( x)  R .

2.4 Exponential Equations and inequalities

Properties of Indices:
(1) 2a × 2b = 2a + b
(2) 2a ÷ 2b = 2a – b
(3) 2a × 3a = (2×3)a = 6a
(4) (2a)b = 2a× b

Example 6: Without using table or calculator, solve the equations:

(a) 4x ×32x = 216 (b) 2 × 4x + 1 = 1612x (c) 4x – 9(2x) + 8 = 0 (d) ex – e-x = 0

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Example 7: Given y = axb and y = 2 when x = 3, y  when x = 9, find a and b.
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Example 8: Solve the following inequalities:

(a) 2x < 16 (b) 4n > 750 (c) (0.6)n < 0.2

Example 9: Find the smallest value of n for which the nth term of the geometric
progression with first term 2 and common ratio 0.9 is less than 0.1.

Example 10: How many terms of the geometric series 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + … must be

taken for the sum to exceed 1011?
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Exercise 2.3: Solving exponential equations and inequalities

1. Without using table or calculator, solve the following equations:

(a) 2x × 5x = 1000 (h) 4 x  32 x  6
.53 x  25 x 1  1
2x x
(b) 3 × 4 = 36 (i)
(c)
2
3 y 3  9 2 y 125
(d) 2x + 2 – 3 = 5 × 2x - 1 (j) .. 3 x  3 x  2  90
(e) 32x + 1 – 28(3x) + 9 = 0 (k) 5  2x  2  4x  2
(f) 42x – 68 (4x) + 256 = 0 (l) 2 2 x 3  2 x 3  1  2 x
(g) 32x + 1 – 82(3x) + 27 = 0

2. The curve y = abx passes through (1, 96), (2, 1152) and (3, p). Find the values of
a, b and p.

3. The curve y = axn passes through (2, 9) and (3, 4). Calculate the values of a and n.

4. Given that y = axb – 5, and that y = 7 when x = 2, and y = 22 when x = 3, find the
values of a and b.

5. Solve the simultaneous equations:

3 x  9 2 y  27
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2x  4y 
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6. Solve the following inequalities:
(a) 5x ≥ 125
(b) 0.4n > 0.45
(c) 2x > 128
(d) 3x ≤ 243
(e) 7x ≤ 49-1

7. Find the smallest possible integer n such that

(a) 2n > 104
(b) 2n > 50
(c) 5.2n > 1000
(d) 0.5n < 10- 4

8. Find the largest possible integer n such that

(a) 2.7n < 850
(b) 6.2n < 4000
(c) 4.6n < 30000

9. Find the least number of terms in the Geometric progression,

2 + 2.4 + 2.88 + …
such that the sum exceeds 1 million.

10. How many terms of geometric series 2 + 6 + 18 + 54 + … must be taken for the
sum to exceed 3 million?

11. A biological culture contains 500 000 bacteria at 12 noon on Monday. The culture
increases by 10% every hour. At what time will the culture exceed 4 million
bacteria?
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2.5: Logarithmic equations

Properties of logarithms:

(1) log a mn  log a m  log a n

m
(2) log a  log a m  log a n
n
(3) log a m n  n log a m
log c b
(4)log a b 
log c a

Example 11
Solve the equation log2(x – 1) + log2(x + 3) - log2(x + 1) = 1

Example 12
Solve the equation log2 x + 2 log2 x – 2 = 0

Example 13
Solve the simultaneous equation: log2(x – 4y) = 4
log84x – log8(8y + 5) = 1

Example 14
Solve the following logarithmic equations:
(a) log 3 N + log 9 N = 6 (b) log 5 x = 4 log x5

Exercise 2.4: Logarithmic equations

1. Solve the following equations without using calculator.

(a) lg 4 + 2 lg x = 2
(b) log2y2 = 3 + log2(y + 6)
(c) lg y + lg (2y – 1) = 1
(d) loga7 + logax = 0

2. Without using calculator, solve

(a) lg25 + lg x – lg(x – 1) = 2
(b) 2lg 3 + lg2x – lg(3x +1) = 0
(c) logy8 = ½
(d) 2log2y = 4 + log2(y + 5)
(e) lg(x2 + 12x – 3) = 1 + 2lgx

3. Solve the simultaneous equations:

(a) 3x = 9(27)y
log27 – log2(11y – 2x) = 1

(b) lg x + 2lgy = 3
x2y = 125
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2.6: Linear law: Using logarithm to transform curves into linear lines

Convert
(a) the equation y = axn to logarithmic form, giving a straight line when log y is
plotted against log x.
(b) the equation y = A(bx) to logarithmic form, giving a straight line when log y is
plotted against x.
(c) the equation y = Aenx to the form ln y = ln A + nx, giving a straight line when ln y
is plotted against x.

Example 15
Jack takes out a fixed rate savings bond. This means he makes one payment and
leaves his money for a fixed number of years. The value of his bond, $B, is given by
the formula B = Axn where A is the original investment and n is the number of
complete years since he opened the account. The table gives some values of B and n.
By plotting a suitable graph find the initial value of Jack’s investment and the rate of
interest he is receiving.
n 2 3 5 8 10
B 982 1056 1220 1516 1752

Example 16
The figure shows part of a straight line graph
obtained by plotting values of the variables
indicated. Express y in terms of x.
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Exercise 2.5: Using logarithm to transform curves into linear lines

1. From the given graph (i), find

(a) lg y in terms of lg x (b) y in terms of x

2. Given the relationship for (ii) is y = axb, find

(a) the values of a and b (b) y when x = 5

3. (a) If log10 y = 0.4 + 0.6x, express y in terms of x.

(b) if log10y = 0.7 + 2 log10 x, express y in terms of x.

4. The table shows the mean relative distance, X, of some of the planets from the
Earth and the time, T years, taken for one revolution round the sun. By drawing an
appropriate graph show that there is an approximate law of the form T = aX n,
stating the values of a and n.
Mercury Venus Earth Mars Saturn
X 0.39 0.72 1.00 1.52 9.54
T 0.24 0.62 1.00 1.88 29.5

5. In a spectacular experiment on cell growth the following data were obtained,

where N is the number of cells at a time t minutes after the start of the growth.

t 1.5 2.7 3.4 8.1 10

N 9 19 32 820 3100

At t = 10 a chemical was introduced which killed off the culture.

The relationship between N and t was thought to be modeled by N = abt, where a
and b are constants.
(a) Use a graph to determine how these figures confirm the supposition that the
relationship is of this form. Find the values of a and b, each to the nearest integer.
(b) If the growth had not been stopped at t = 10 and had continued according to your
model, how many cells would there have been after 20 minutes?
(c) An alternative expression for the relationship is N = m ekt. Find the values of m
and k.

Page 46, Ex 3D: 1 (a), 5, 7