NAME: _______________________________________ DATE: ____________________

GRADE AND SECTION: ___________________________ TEACHER: _________________

LEARNING CONCEPTS AND ACTIVITIES

Logarithmic function is simply the inverse of an exponential function. It is mainly used, but not
limited to, earthquake intensity measurement, acidic measurement of solutions (pH value), sound
intensity measurement and expressing larger values.

Definition of a Logarithm
• If 𝑥 > 0 and 𝑏 is a positive constant, 𝑏 ≠ 0, then 𝒚 = 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒃 𝒙 if and only if 𝒃𝒚 = 𝒙
• The function is read “the logarithm (or log) base 𝑏 of 𝑥”.
• The definition of a logarithm indicates that a logarithm is an exponent.

Exponential Function Logarithmic Function

𝑦 = 𝑏𝑥 𝑦 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥
Domain all real numbers Range
Range all positive real numbers Domain

The logarithmic and exponential forms are equivalent equations. We can change from one form to
another.

Logarithmic Form Exponential Form

𝑙𝑜𝑔10 100,000 = 5 105 = 100,000
𝑙𝑜𝑔2 8 = 3 23 = 8
1 1
𝑙𝑜𝑔2 ( ) = −2 2−2 =
4 4
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑟 𝑚 = 𝑠 𝑟𝑠 = 𝑚

Properties of Logarithm
If 𝑏, 𝑀 and 𝑁 are positive real numbers (𝑏 ≠ 1), and 𝑝 is any real number.
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑏 = 1 𝑏1 = 𝑏
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 1 = 0 𝑏0 = 1
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑏 𝑝 = 𝑝 𝑏𝑝 = 𝑏𝑝
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑀𝑁) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑀 + 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑁 Product Property
𝑀 Quotient Property
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 ( ) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑀 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑁
𝑁
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑀𝑝 ) = 𝑝 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑀 Power Property
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑀 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑁 implies 𝑀 = 𝑁 One-to-one Property

𝑀 = 𝑁 implies 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑀 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑁 Logarithm of each side

Property
𝑏 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏𝑃 = 𝑝 (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝 > 0) Inverse Property

Natural logarithms are logarithms with base e (which is approximately 2.71828 as mentioned in the
previous module). This means that log𝑒 𝑥 can be written as ln𝑥.

GENERAL MATHEMATICS Page | 1

Common Logarithm
Common logarithms are logarithms with base 10, the base is usually omitted when writing common
logarithms.
𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 𝒙 = 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒙

101 = 10 log 10 = 1
102 = 100 log 100 = 2
103 = 1,000 log 1000 = 3

Natural Logarithm
Natural logarithms are logarithms with base 𝑒 (which is approximately 2.71828. This means that 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑒 𝑥
can be written as ln 𝑥.
𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒆 𝒙 = 𝐥𝐧 𝒙

Properties of Natural Logarithm

Property Reason
ln 1 = 0 𝑒0 = 1
ln 𝑒 = 1 𝑒1 = 𝑒
ln 𝑒 𝑥 = 𝑥 𝑒𝑥 = 𝑒𝑥
𝑒 𝑙𝑛 𝑥 = 𝑥 ln 𝑥 is the power to which
𝑒 must be raised to get 𝑥.

Examples:

Change from Logarithmic to Exponential Form

a) 3 = log 2 x b) log10 (x + 8) = 3 c) ln 3 = x

Answer: Answer: Answer:

23 = 8 103 = x + 8 103 = x + 8

Change from Exponential to Logarithmic Form

1
a) x = 162 b) e2 = x c) 8x = 2
Answer: Answer: Answer:
1 e2 = x log 8 2 = x
= log16 x
2

Evaluate Logarithms
a) log 5 25 = x b) log 4 64 = x c) log
1
=x
1000
Answer: Answer: Answer:
5x = 25 4x = 64 1
5x = 52 4x = 43 10x =
1000
x=2 x=3 10x = 10−3
x = −3

Use the properties of logarithm to express the following logarithms in terms of logarithms of x, y and z.
a) log b (xy 2 ) b) log (
x2 √ y
) c) ln 2x
b z5

Answer: Answer:
= log b x + log b y 2 Answer: = ln 2 + ln x
= log b x + 2log b y = log b x 2 √y − log b z 5
= log b x 2 + log b √y − log b z 5
1
= 2log b x + log b y − 5log b z
2

Write as a single logarithm

1
a) 5𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥 + 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑥 + 2) b) 4𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑥 + 2) − 5𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑥 − 3 c) 2 ln 5 + 3 ln 𝑥
2

GENERAL MATHEMATICS Page | 2

 Answer: Answer:
Answer: = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥 4 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑥 − 3)5 = ln 52 + ln 𝑥 3
1
= 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥 5 + 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 (𝑥 + 2)2 𝑥4 = ln 52 𝑥 3
= 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 ( )
1 (𝑥 − 3)5
= 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 [𝑥 2 (𝑥 + 2)2 ]

Evaluate Logarithms
a) 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 √27 b) log 4 + log 25 c) 𝑙𝑜𝑔
32
3
Given:
Answer: Answer: log 2 = 0.301
1 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔4(25)
= 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 272 log 3 = 0.477
= 𝑙𝑜𝑔100
1
= 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 27 =2
2 Answer:
1 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔32 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔3
= (3)
2
3 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔25 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔3
= = 5𝑙𝑜𝑔2 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔3
2
= 5(0.301) − 0.477
= 1.505 − 0.477
= 1.028

Change-of-Base Formula
If 𝑥, 𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏 are positive real numbers with 𝑎 ≠ 1 and 𝑏 ≠ 1, then
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑎 𝑥
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥 =
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑎 𝑏

Use the Change-of-Base Formula

Evaluate each of the following logarithm. We will evaluate these logarithms by using the log key on
a scientific calculator.
a. 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 18 b. 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 30

Answer: Answer:
𝑙𝑜𝑔18 𝑙𝑜𝑔30
= =
𝑙𝑜𝑔3 𝑙𝑜𝑔2
≈ 2.6309 ≈ 4.9069

Antilogarithms
Given 𝑀 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁, it is often necessary to determine the value of 𝑁. In this case the number 𝑁 is
called antilogarithm of 𝑀.

If 𝑀 and 𝑁 are real numbers with 𝑁 > 0, such that 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑁 = 𝑀

Then 𝑁 is the antilogarithm of 𝑀 for the base 𝑏.

If 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 𝑁 = 1.2251, then 𝑁 = 2 ≈ 2.3371

a. 𝑁 = 2(3) b. 𝑁 =
√(4.2)(3)
8

Solution:
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2(3) Solution:
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 + 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 √(4.2)(3)
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 0.301 + 0.4771 8
1
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 0.7781 (4.2)(3) 2
𝑁 = 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔 0.7781 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔 ( )
8
𝑁=6 1 (4.2)(3)
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔 ( )
2 8
1
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = [log4.2 + log3 − log8]
2
1
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = [0.6242 + 0.4771 − 0.9031]
2

GENERAL MATHEMATICS Page | 3

 1
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = [0.1972]
2
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 = 0.0986
𝑁 = 𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑔 0.0986
𝑁 ≈ 1.2549

Logarithmic Function and Their Graphs

The logarithmic function is the inverse of exponential function. The e graph of 𝑦 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥 is the
reflection of the graph of 𝑦 = 𝑏 𝑥 .

Example No. 1: Graph 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 𝑥

Solution:
Changing 𝑦 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 𝑥 to its exponential form 2𝑦 = 𝑥 enables us to evaluate 𝑥 for integral values of x.

𝑦 -2 -1 0 1 2 3
𝑥 = 2𝑦 1 1 1 2 4 8
4 2

The table above was conducted by picking a 𝑦 value and then computing the corresponding 𝑥
values.

Based on the graph above, the graph of 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔2 𝑥 is the reflection of 𝑓(𝑥) = 2𝑥 with respect to
the line 𝑦 = 𝑥.

Properties of 𝒇(𝒙) = 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒃 𝒙

For all positive real numbers 𝑏 ≠ 1, the function defined by 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑏 𝑥 has the following properties.
1. 𝑓 has the set of positive real numbers as its domain
2. 𝑓 has the set of real numbers as its range
3. 𝑓 has a graph with an x-intercept of (1,0)
4. 𝑓 has a graph asymptotic to the y-axis
5. 𝑓 is a one-to-one function
6. 𝑓 is an increasing function if 𝑏 > 1
7. 𝑓 is a decreasing function if 0 < 𝑏 < 1

Example No. 2: Sketch the graph of 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 𝑥 and 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔1 𝑥 on one rectangular coordinate
3
plane. Determine the domain, range, intercepts and asymptote whether the function is increasing
or decreasing.

GENERAL MATHEMATICS Page | 4

Solution:
a. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 𝑥 ↔ 3𝑦 = 𝑥
Construct table of values
𝑥 1/9 1/3 1 3 9
3𝑦 -2 -1 0 1 2

1 𝑦
b. 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔1 𝑥 ↔ ( ) =𝑥
3 3
𝑥 9 3 1 1/3 1/9
1 𝑦 -2 -1 0 1 2
( )
3

𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 𝑥 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑙𝑜𝑔1 𝑥

3
Domain all positive real all positive real
numbers numbers
Range all real numbers all real numbers
x-intercept 𝑥=1 𝑥=1
Asymptote 𝑥=0 𝑥=0
Behaviour of the graph increasing function decreasing function

Application of Logarithmic Function

In many applications on exponential growth and exponential decay, sometimes we are asked to
find for the time interval in a particular problem.

Example No: 1: The number of ants in a nest doubles every month. If there are now 600 ants, about
how long will it take for their number to grow to 9,600?

Solution:
𝐴 = 𝐴0 (1 + 𝑟)𝑡
Given
𝐴0 = 600
𝑟 = 100%
𝐴 = 9,600
9,600 = 600(1 + 1)𝑡
9,600 600(2)𝑡
=
600 600
16 = 2𝑡
24 = 2𝑡
4=𝑡

Thus, it will take 4 months for 600 ants to grow to 9,600.

GENERAL MATHEMATICS Page | 5