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    Properties of Logarithms

    Uploaded by

    Charalampidis Dimitris
    In this PDF we are heaving a first introduction into the notations regarding logarithms and through examples we are applying their properties

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved

    Properties of Logarithms

    Uploaded by

    Charalampidis Dimitris
    337 views3 pages
    In this PDF we are heaving a first introduction into the notations regarding logarithms and through examples we are applying their properties

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

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    In this PDF we are heaving a first introduction into the notations regarding logarithms and through examples we are applying their properties

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    337 views3 pages

    Properties of Logarithms

    Uploaded by

    Charalampidis Dimitris
    In this PDF we are heaving a first introduction into the notations regarding logarithms and through examples we are applying their properties

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    of 3

    Properties of Logarithms

    Solving Quadratic equations


    Introduction

    A logarithm is a mathematical expression written in the form log a b .

    a is called base of the logarithm and b is called argument of the logarithm respectively.
    Restrictions
    Regarding the value of the logarithm’s base, we want it to be positive and different than 1 while
    considering the value of the logarithm’s argument, we want it to be strictly bigger than 0.
    Arithmetic value

    To calculate a given logarithm we can apply the rule: log a b = x  a =b


    x

    Special logarithms

    If a logarithm has a base of 10, then instead of writing log10 b , we can simply write it as log b

    If the base of a logarithm is equal to the natural number e, then instead of writing loge b
    we can write is as ln b .

    Example
    Find the arithmetic value of each one of the following logarithms. We can easily
    understand that the
    number of logarithms
    we are able to
    i ) log 2 4 = ? let log 2 4 = x → 2 x = 4 → x = 2 calculate on our own
    is very limited.
    ii ) log 3 81 = ? let log 3 81 = x → 3x = 81 → x = 4 In most cases we will
    need the help of a
    calculator.
    iii ) log1000 = ? let log1000 = x → 10 x = 1000 → x = 3

    iv) log 0.01 = ? let log 0.01 = x → 10 x = 0.01 → 10 x = 10−2 → x = −2

    v) ln 6 = ? let ln 6 = x → e x = 6 → x = .... 1.79

    1
    Charalampidis Dimitris

    Properties of logarithms:

    1) log n a + log n b = log n a  b

    Always remember that you can only


    a apply these properties for logarithms
    2) log n a − log n b = log n
    b that have the same base.

    3) log n a c = c  log n a

    Example
    Apply the appropriate properties to write each given expression as a single logarithm.

    log 4 + log 7 : log 4 + log 7 = log ( 4  7 ) = log 28

    6
    log 6 − log10 : log 6 − log10 = log = log 0.6
    10
    log 62 : log 62 = 2log 6

    4log 3 : 4log 3 = log 34

    5log 3 + 7 log8 : 5log 3 + 7 log8 = log 35 + log87 = log ( 35  87 )

    43 64
    3log 4 − 5log 2 : 3log 4 − 5log 2 = log 4 − log 2 = log 5 = log
    3 5
    = log 2
    2 32

    1
    1 16
    2log 4 − log 3 = log 42 − log 3 2 = log16 − log 3 = log
    2 3
    Properties of Logarithms

    Example

    Assuming that log a = x and log b = y , express in terms of x and (or) y each one of the
    following logarithms.

    i ) log a 3 = ? Ans : log a 3 = 3log a = 3 x

    ii ) log ab = ? Ans : log ab = log a + log b = x + y

    iii ) log a 2b3 = ? Ans : log a 2b3 = log a 2 + log b3 = 2log a + 3log b = 2 x + 3 y

    1 1
    iv) log =? Ans : log = log1 − log a = 0 − log a = − log a = − x
    a a

    a a
    v) log =? Ans : log = log a − log b = x − y
    b b

    a2 a2
    vi ) log =? Ans : log = log a 2 − log b3 = 2log a − 3log b = 2 x − 3 y
    b3 b 3

    Change of base
    We can always go from one given base to any base we want. To do so we need to apply the
    log c b
    following formula: log a b =
    log c a

    Example

    Given the logarithm log 2 9 , we can turn this number to an equivalent expression using

    log10 9 log 9
    logarithms with a base of 10 as follows: log 2 9 = =
    log10 2 log 2

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