5/27/2017 AlgebraLogarithmFunctions

LogarithmFunctions
Inthissectionwenowneedtomoveintologarithmfunctions.Thiscanbeatrickyfunctiontographright
away.Thereisgoingtobesomedifferentnotationthatyouarentusedtoandsomeofthepropertiesmay
notbeallthatintuitive.Donotgetdiscouragedhowever.Onceyoufiguretheseoutyouwillfindthatthey
reallyarentthatbadanditusuallyjusttakesalittleworkingwiththemtogetthemfiguredout.

Hereisthedefinitionofthelogarithmfunction.
Ifbisanynumbersuchthat and and then,

Weusuallyreadthisaslogbasebofx.

Inthisdefinition iscalledthelogarithmformand iscalledtheexponentialform.

Notethattherequirementthat isreallyaresultofthefactthatwearealsorequiring .Ifyouthink
aboutit,itwillmakesense.Weareraisingapositivenumbertoanexponentandsothereisnowaythatthe
resultcanpossiblybeanythingotherthananotherpositivenumber.Itisveryimportanttorememberthatwe
canttakethelogarithmofzerooranegativenumber.

Now,letsaddressthenotationusedhereasthatisusuallythebiggesthurdlethatstudentsneedtoovercome
beforestartingtounderstandlogarithms.First,thelogpartofthefunctionissimplythreelettersthatare
usedtodenotethefactthatwearedealingwithalogarithm.Theyarenotvariablesandtheyarent
signifyingmultiplication.Theyarejusttheretotelluswearedealingwithalogarithm.

Next,thebthatissubscriptedonthelogpartistheretotelluswhatthebaseisasthisisanimportantpiece
ofinformation.Also,despitewhatitmightlooklikethereisnoexponentiationinthelogarithmformabove.
Itmightlooklikewevegot inthatform,butitisnt.Itjustlookslikethatmightbewhatshappening.

Itisimportanttokeepthenotationwithlogarithmsstraight,ifyoudontyouwillfinditverydifficultto
understandthemandtoworkwiththem.

Now,letstakeaquicklookathowweevaluatelogarithms.

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