University of Western Australia

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
1995 MATHEMATICS OLYMPIAD LECTURE NOTES
Review of logarithms
Greg Gamble

Definition
The logarithm to base a of b, written loga (b) is the power m that a must be raised to get
b. For this definition to make sense we need a > 0 but a 6= 1 and b > 0. (Usually a is also
an integer but this is not necessary.) More precisely then, for 1 6= a > 0 and b > 0,
loga (b) = m ⇐⇒ am = b.
 The loga function should be seen as the inverse function of the expa function defined by:

expa (x) := ax , x ∈ R,

where a > 0.

 There are two questions here:

1. Why can we allow x to be in R? Shouldn’t x be in Q?
2. Why do we need a > 0?
Suppose first that x = p/q ∈ Q, where p, q ∈ Z and q 6= 0, and a > 0. Then we define
√
expa (x) := (ap )1/q = q ap ,
√
q
where for b = ap > 0, b1/q = b is the positive real q th root of b and

ap = a.a. · · · .a

(the usual definition). We can extend this definition to have x ∈ R by continuity – essentially this
means for any sequence of rational numbers p1 /q1 , p2 /q2 , . . . that approach a given x ∈ R, the sequence
ap1 /q1 , ap2 /q2 , . . . approaches some real number y – ax is then defined to be y.
Now, why do we need a > 0? . . . Well, if a = 0 then expa (x) is undefined for nonpositive x; and
we avoid negative values of a since otherwise we encounter conflicts like the following:
• a1/3 exists if we interpret this as the real cube root of a (then the value of a1/3 is negative for
negative a);
• a2/6 ought to be interpreted as (a2 )1/6 which is the positive 6th root of the positive number a2 (i.e.
a2/6 would necessarily be positive for negative a); and
1 2
• = .
3 6
So, insisting that a > 0 ensures that expa is well-defined.

 What is a function? Firstly, a more general concept than a function is a map (or mapping). We
define f to be a map (or mapping) if it is a rule that takes elements of one set, called the domain, to
elements of another set, called the codomain. We say that f is a map from its domain to its codomain;
or that f maps elements of its domain to its codomain. Now a function is a map with further properties.
We say a map f is a function with domain D and codomain Y if
• f is defined for all x ∈ D; and

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 • for each x ∈ D, f(x) is just one element of Y .
A particularly nice notation that emphasises this way of thinking has the following form

f : domain → codomain
: x 7→ f(x).
The value f(x) is called the image of x under f. For example, the real square function may be represented
by

g:R→ R
: x 7→ x2 .
This says
g [is the function that]
maps x in R to x2 in R.
The image of 3 under g is 9, and more generally the image of x under g is x2 . You may be more familiar
with defining the function g by
g(x) = x2 , x ∈ R.
This notation, however, fails to tell us what we are considering to be the codomain. Notice that we have
not insisted that f maps at least one point of the domain to each point of the codomain. For the real
square function g, notice that there are no points of the domain that are mapped to negative elements
of the codomain. We reserve the term range for the subset of the codomain containing only the images
of points of the domain. For g the range is R≥0 , the set of all nonnegative elements of R. (Note that
nonnegative means positive or zero).

 What is an inverse function? Basically the inverse function of a function f (if one exists) should
take elements of the codomain of f back to elements of the domain of f; and it should itself be a
function. We usually write f −1 for the inverse function of the function f (when it exists). Suppose f is
a function, where

f :D→ Y
: x 7→ f(x),
and suppose R is the range of f. Then f −1 is defined by

f −1 : Y → D
: f(x) 7→ x,
so long as this definition defines a function. That is, the domain of f −1 is the codomain of f and the
codomain of f −1 is the domain of f; and f −1 is a function if
• f −1 is defined for all y in its domain Y , i.e. each y ∈ Y must be an image under f of a point in
X – this can only happen if Y = R, in which case f is said to be onto (that is, if Y = R we say f
maps D onto Y ); and
• for each y ∈ Y = R, f −1 (y) is just one element of its codomain D, i.e. only one element of the
domain D of f maps to any one element of the range R of f – if f has this property then f is said
to be one-to-one, (this property can often be achieved by reducing the domain of f).
For the square function g, the codomain is R rather than R≥0 (so g is not onto), and if x 6= 0 then
−x and x are two points that map to the same image x2 under g (so g is not one-to-one). We can make
g onto by redefining its codomain to be R≥0 and we can make g one-to-one by reducing its domain to
say R≥0 . Really, this is a new function – so let’s call it g∗ , i.e.

g∗ : R≥0 → R≥0
: x 7→ x2 .

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Now g∗ has inverse function g∗ −1 defined by
−1
g∗ : R≥0 → R≥0
√
: y 7→ y.

Now let’s consider the inverse function of expa . We will need its codomain to be equal to its range,
which is R>0 , the set of all positive real numbers. So let’s define, for a > 0

expa : R → R>0
: x 7→ ax .

This function is one-to-one, for all 1 6= a > 0. (Note that, exp1 (x) = 1x = 1 for all x ∈ R, so that exp1 is
not one-to-one.) Now finally, we can define loga to be the inverse function of expa , i.e. for 1 6= a > 0,

loga : R>0 → R
: ax 7→ x.

Properties
Suppose 1 6= a > 0 , 1 6= b > 0 , x, y > 0 and m, n ∈ R . Then the function loga has
the following properties.
1. loga (1) = 0
since . . . a0 = 1 and a 6= 0 (in fact, we assumed 1 6= a > 0).

2. loga (a) = 1
since . . . a1 = a.
3. loga (an ) = n

4. loga (xy) = loga (x) + loga (y)

since . . .
The statement is essentially
am .an = am+n

in disguise. Let x = am , y = an. Then

loga (xy) = loga(am .an) = loga (am+n )

=m+n
= loga (x) + loga (y)

5. loga (xn ) = n loga (x)

since . . .
The statement is essentially
(am )n = amn

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 in disguise. Let x = am . Then
 
loga (xn ) = loga (am )n = loga (amn)
= mn
= nm
= n loga (x)

loga(x)
6. logb (x) =
loga (b)
since . . .

blogb (x) = x ⇐⇒ (aloga (b) )logb (x) = x

⇐⇒ aloga (b). logb (x) = x
⇐⇒ loga (b). logb (x) = loga (x)
loga(x)
⇐⇒ logb (x) = .
loga (b)

Additional properties
Suppose 1 6= a > 0 , 1 6= b > 0 and x, y > 0 . Then the function loga has the following
additional properties that are corollaries of the previous properties.
!
x
7. loga = loga (x) − loga(y)
y
since . . .

!
x
loga = loga (x.y −1)
y
= loga (x) + loga (y −1 ), by Property 4.
= loga (x) − loga (y), by Property 5.
!
1
8. loga = − loga (y)
y
!
1
since . . . loga = loga(1) − loga(y) = − loga(y), by Properties 7 and 1.
y

1
9. logb (a) =
loga (b)
loga (a) 1
since . . . logb (a) = = , by Properties 6 and 2.
loga (b) loga (b)

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Special properties
Below we will be assuming a > 1 , and x, y > 0 .
10. If a > 1 then loga is an increasing function.
since . . .
Let a > 1. Then
am > an ⇐⇒ m > n.
Now let x = am , y = an . Then
x > y ⇐⇒ loga (x) > loga (x).

In particular,
loga (x) > loga (x) =⇒ x > y,
which is equivalent to saying loga is an increasing function.
11. If a > 1 and x > 1 then loga(x) > 0.
since . . .
a > 1 implies loga is an increasing function. So, since x > 1,

loga (x) > loga (1) = 0.