TERM PAPER OF MTH-102

How the exponential,

logarithm and
LOVELY
trigonometric
PROFESSION
functions of real
AL
UNIVERSITY variable is different
from complex
variable?

09/04/2011
NAME – VISHAL THAKUR
REG. NO. 11001561
ROLL NO. RB5005A15
GROUP - 1
SECTION - B 5005
COURSE CODE – MTH102
COURSE INSTRUCTOR – MISS.MANNINDER
Exponentiation
Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as an, involving two
numbers, the base a and the exponent n. When n is a positive integer,
exponentiation corresponds to repeated multiplication; in other words, a product
of n factors of a:

just as multiplication by a positive integer corresponds to repeated addition:

The exponent is usually shown as a superscript to the right of the base. The
exponentiation an can be read as: a raised to the n-th power, a raised to the
power [of] n, or possibly a raised to the exponent [of] n, or more briefly as a to
the n. Some exponents have their own pronunciation: for example, a2 is usually
read as a squared and a3 as a cubed.

Exponentiation where the exponent is a matrix is used for solving systems of

linear differential equations.
Graphs of y=ax for various bases a: base 10 (green), base e (red), base 2 (blue),
and base ½ (cyan). Each curve passes through the point (0,1) because any
nonzero number raised to the power 0 is 1. At x=1, the y-value equals the base
because any number raised to the power 1 is itself.

Terminology
When this article refers to 'an odd power' of a number it means the exponent is
an odd number, not that the result is odd. For instance 23 which is 8 is an odd
power of 2 because the exponent is 3. This is the usual usage and applies to any
similar form like an even power, negative power, or positive power.

Integer exponents
The exponentiation operation with integer exponents requires only elementary
algebra.

Positive integer exponents

The expression a2 = a·a is called the square of a because the area of a square
with side-length a is a2.

The expression a3 = a·a·a is called the cube, because the volume of a cube with
side-length a is a3.

So 32 is pronounced "three squared", and 23 is "two cubed".

The exponent says how many copies of the base are multiplied together. For
example, 35 = 3·3·3·3·3 = 243. The base 3 appears 5 times in the repeated
multiplication, because the exponent is 5. Here, 3 is the base, 5 is the exponent,
and 243 is the power or, more specifically, the fifth power of 3, 3 raised to the
fifth power, or 3 to the power of 5.

The word "raised" is usually omitted, and very often "power" as well, so 35 is
typically pronounced "three to the fifth" or "three to the five".

Formally, powers with positive integer exponents may be defined by the initial
condition a1 = a and the recurrence relation an+1 = a·an.

Exponents one and zero

Notice that a1 is the "product" of only one a, which is defined to be a.

Also note that an − 1 = an/a. Assuming n = 1, we get a0 = 1. Another way of saying

this is that when n, m, and n − m are positive (and if a is not equal to zero), one
can see that

Extended to the special case when n and m are equal, the equality would read

since both the numerator and the denominator are equal. Therefore we take this
as the definition of a0. This leads to the following rule:

• Any number raised to the power 1 is the number itself.

• Any nonzero number raised to the power 0 is 1; one interpretation of
these powers is as empty products. The case of 00 is discussed below.

Negative integer exponents

By definition, raising a nonzero number to the −1 power produces its reciprocal:

One also defines

for any nonzero a and any positive integer n. Raising 0 to a negative power
would imply division by 0, so it is left undefined.

The definition of a−n for nonzero a is made so that the identity aman = am+n,
initially true only for nonnegative integers m and n, holds for arbitrary integers
m and n. In particular, requiring this identity for m = −n is requiring

where a0 is defined above, and this motivates the definition a−n = 1/an shown
above.

Exponentiation to a negative integer power can alternatively be seen as repeated

division of 1 by the base. For instance,

Identities and properties

The most important identity satisfied by integer exponentiation is

This identity has the consequence

for a ≠ 0, and

Another basic identity is

While addition and multiplication are commutative (for example, 2+3 = 5 = 3+2
and 2·3 = 6 = 3·2), exponentiation is not commutative: 23 = 8, but 32 = 9.

Similarly, while addition and multiplication are associative (for example,

(2+3)+4 = 9 = 2+(3+4) and (2·3)·4 = 24 = 2·(3·4), exponentiation is not
associative either: 23 to the 4th power is 84 or 4096, but 2 to the 34 power is 281
or 2,417,851,639,229,258,349,412,352. Without parentheses to modify the
order of calculation, the order is usually understood to be top-down, not bottom-
up:

Powers of ten

In the base ten (decimal) number system, integer powers of 10 are written as the
digit 1 followed or preceded by a number of zeroes determined by the sign and
magnitude of the exponent. For example, 103 = 1000 and 10−4 = 0.0001.

Exponentiation with base 10 is used in scientific notation to describe large or

small numbers. For instance, 299,792,458 meters/second (the speed of light in a
vacuum, in meters per second) can be written as 2.99792458·108 m/s and then
approximated as 2.998·108 m/s.

SI prefixes based on powers of 10 are also used to describe small or large

quantities. For example, the prefix kilo means 103 = 1000, so a kilometre is
1000 metres.

Powers of two

The positive powers of 2 are important in computer science because there are 2n
possible values for an n-bit binary variable.

Powers of 2 are important in set theory since a set with n members has a power
set, or set of all subsets of the original set, with 2n members.

The negative powers of 2 are commonly used, and the first two have special
names: half, and quarter.

Powers of one

The integer powers of one are one: 1n = 1.

Powers of zero

If the exponent is positive, the power of zero is zero: 0n = 0, where n > 0.

If the exponent is negative, the power of zero (0n, where n < 0) is undefined,
because division by zero is implied.
If the exponent is zero, some authors define 00=1, whereas others leave it
undefined, as discussed below.

Powers of minus one

If n is an even integer, then (−1)n = 1.

If n is an odd integer, then (−1)n = −1.

Real powers of positive numbers

Raising a positive real number to a power that is not an integer can be
accomplished in two ways.

• Rational number exponents can be defined in terms of nth roots, and

arbitrary nonzero exponents can then be defined by continuity.
• The natural logarithm can be used to define real exponents using the
exponential function.

The identities and properties shown above for integer exponents are true for
positive real numbers with noninteger exponents as well. However the identity

cannot be extended consistently to where a is a negative real number, see

negative nth roots. The failure of this identity is the basis for the problems with
complex number powers detailed under failure of power and logarithm
identities.

Principal n-th root

From top to bottom: x1/8, x1/4, x1/2, x1, x2, x4, x8.
An n-th root of a number a is a number x such that xn = a.

If a is a positive real number and n is a positive integer, then there is exactly one
positive real solution to xn = a. This solution is called the principal n-th root of
a. It is denoted n√a, where √  is the radical symbol; alternatively, it may be
written a1/n. For example: 41/2 = 2, 81/3 = 2,

When one speaks of the n-th root of a positive real number a, one usually means
the principal n-th root.

Rational powers

A power of a positive real number a with a rational exponent m/n in lowest

terms satisfies

Powers of e

Main article: Exponential function

The important mathematical constant e, sometimes called Euler's number, is

approximately equal to 2.718 and is the base of the natural logarithm. It
provides a path for defining exponentiation with noninteger exponents. It is
defined as the following limit where the power goes to infinity as the base tends
to one:

The exponential function, defined by

has the x written as a power as it satisfies the basic exponential identity

The exponential function is defined for all integer, fractional, real, and complex
values of x. It can even be used to extend exponentiation to some nonnumerical
entities such as square matrices; however, the exponential identity only holds
when x and y commute.

A short proof that e to a positive integer power k is the same as ek is:

This proof shows also that ex+y satisfies the exponential identity when x and y
are positive integers. These results are in fact generally true for all numbers, not
just for the positive integers.

Real powers

Since any real number can be approximated by rational numbers,

exponentiation to an arbitrary real exponent x can be defined by continuity with
the rule

where the limit as r gets close to x is taken only over rational values of r.

For example, if

then

Exponentiation by a real power is normally accomplished using logarithms

instead of using limits of rational powers.

The natural logarithm ln(x) is the inverse of the exponential function ex. It is
defined for b > 0, and satisfies

If bx is to be defined so as to preserve the logarithm and exponent rules, then

one must have

This motivates the definition

for each real number x.

This definition of the real number power bx agrees with the definition given
above using rational exponents and continuity. The definition of exponentiation
using logarithms is more common in the context of complex numbers, as
discussed below.

Complex powers of positive real numbers

Imaginary powers of e

The exponential function ez can be defined as the limit of (1 + z/N)N, as N

approaches infinity, and thus eiπ is the limit of (1 + iπ/N)N. In this animation N
takes various increasing values from 1 to 100. The computation of (1 + iπ/N)N is
displayed as the combined effect of N repeated multiplications in the complex
plane, with the final point being the actual value of (1 + iπ/N)N. It can be seen
that as N gets larger (1 + iπ/N)N approaches a limit of −1. Therefore, eiπ = −1,
which is known as Euler's identity.

The geometric interpretation of the operations on complex numbers and the

definition of powers of e is the clue to understanding eix for real x. Consider the
right triangle (0, 1, 1 + ix/n). For big values of n the triangle is almost a circular
sector with a small central angle equal to x/n radians. The triangles (0, (1 +
ix/n)k, (1 + ix/n)k+1) are mutually similar for all values of k. So for large values
of n the limiting point of (1 + ix/n)n is the point on the unit circle whose angle
from the positive real axis is x radians. The polar coordinates of this point are (r,
θ) = (1, x), and the cartesian coordinates are (cos x, sin x). So e ix = cos x + isin
x, and this is Euler's formula, connecting algebra to trigonometry by means of
complex numbers.
The solutions to the equation ez = 1 are the integer multiples of 2iπ:

More generally, if eb = a, then every solution to ez = a can be obtained by adding

an integer multiple of 2πi to b:

Thus the complex exponential function is a periodic function with period 2πi.

More simply: eiπ = −1; ex + iy = ex(cos y + i sin y).

Trigonometric functions

It follows from Euler's formula that the trigonometric functions cosine and sine
are

Historically, cosine and sine were defined geometrically before the invention of
complex numbers. The above formula reduces the complicated formulas for
trigonometric functions of a sum into the simple exponentiation formula

Using exponentiation with complex exponents may reduce problems in

trigonometry to algebra.

Complex powers of e

The power ex+i·y is computed ex · ei·y. The real factor ex is the absolute value of
ex+i·y and the complex factor ei·y identifies the direction of ex+i·y.

Complex powers of positive real numbers

If a is a positive real number, and z is any complex number, the power az is

defined as ez·ln(a), where x = ln(a) is the unique real solution to the equation ex =
a. So the same method working for real exponents also works for complex
exponents. For example:

2 i = e i·ln(2) = cos(ln(2))+i·sin(ln(2)) = 0.7692+i·0.63896

e i = 0.54030+i·0.84147
10 i = −0.66820+i·0.74398
 (e 2·π) i = 535.49 i = 1

Powers of complex numbers

Integer powers of nonzero complex numbers are defined by repeated
multiplication or division as above. If i is the imaginary unit and n is an integer,
then in equals 1, i, −1, or −i, according to whether the integer n is congruent to
0, 1, 2, or 3 modulo 4. Because of this, the powers of i are useful for expressing
sequences of period 4.

Complex powers of positive reals are defined via ex as in section Complex

powers of positive real numbers above. These are continuous functions.

Complex power of a complex number

For complex numbers a and b with a ≠ 0, the notation ab is ambiguous in the

same sense that log a is.

To obtain a value of ab, first choose a logarithm of a; call it log a. Such a choice
may be the principal value Log a (the default, if no other specification is given),
or perhaps a value given by some other branch of log z fixed in advance. Then,
using the complex exponential function one defines

ab = ebloga
Complex roots of unity

The three 3rd roots of 1

A complex number a such that an = 1 for a positive integer n is an nth root of

unity. Geometrically, the nth roots of unity lie on the unit circle of the complex
plane at the vertices of a regular n-gon with one vertex on the real number 1.
If zn = 1 but zk ≠ 1 for all natural numbers k such that 0 < k < n, then z is called
a primitive nth root of unity. The negative unit −1 is the only primitive square
root of unity. The imaginary unit i is one of the two primitive 4-th roots of
unity; the other one is −i.

The number e2πi (1/n) is the primitive nth root of unity with the smallest positive
complex argument. (It is sometimes called the principal nth root of unity,
although this terminology is not universal and should not be confused with the
principal value of n√1, which is 1.[1])

The other nth roots of unity are given by

for 2 ≤ k ≤ n.

Failure of power and logarithm identities

Some identities for powers and logarithms for positive real numbers will fail for
complex numbers, no matter how complex powers and complex logarithms are
defined. For example:

• The identity log(ab) = b · log a holds whenever a is a positive real number

and b is a real number. But for the principal branch of the complex
logarithm one has

Regardless of which branch of the logarithm is used, a similar failure of

the identity will exist. The best that can be said (if only using this result)
is that:

This identity does not hold even when considering log as a multivalued
function. The possible values of log(ab) contain those of b · log a as a
subset. Using Log(a) for the principal value of log(a) and m, n as any
integers the possible values of both sides are:

• The identity (ea)b = eab holds for real numbers a and b, but assuming its
truth for complex numbers leads to the following paradox, discovered in
1827 by Clausen:

For any integer n, we have:

 1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Zero to the zero power

Plot of z = abs(x)y with red curves yielding different limits as (x,y) approaches
(0,0). The green curves all yield a limit of 1.

Most authors agree with the statements related to 00 in the two lists below, but
make different decisions when it comes to defining 00 or not: see the next
subsection.
In most settings not involving continuity in the exponent, interpreting 00 as 1
simplifies formulas and eliminates the need for special cases in theorems. (See
the next paragraph for some settings that do involve continuity.) For example:

• Regarding a0 as an empty product assigns it the value 1, even when a=0.

• The combinatorial interpretation of 00 is the number of empty tuples of
elements from the empty set. There is exactly one empty tuple.
• Equivalently, the set-theoretic interpretation of 00 is the number of
functions from the empty set to the empty set. There is exactly one such
function, the empty function.
• The notation for polynomials and power series rely on defining 00

= 1. Identities like and and the binomial

theorem are not valid for x = 0 unless 00 = 1.

• In differential calculus, the power rule is not valid for n =
1 at x = 0 unless 00 = 1.