MODULE 4: EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

TOPICS:
1. Powers
2. Logarithms

OBJECTIVES:
When you have completed this unit, you will be able to:

1. Manipulate expressions involving powers and logarithms

DISCUSSION:

Powers

The use of powers (also called indices or exponents) provides a convenient form of
algebraic shorthand. Repeated factors of the same base, for example a x a x a x a can be
written as a4, where the number 4 indicates the number of factors multiplied together. In
general, the product of n such factors a, where a and n are positive integers, is written an,
where a is called the base and n is called the index or exponent or power. Any number
multiplying an is called the coefficient.
 Example:

1.

2.

Logarithms

Any real number can be written as another number raised to a power. For example:

9 = 32 and 27 = 33

By writing numbers in the form of a number raised to a power some of the arithmetic
operations can be performed in an alternative way. For example:

Here the process of multiplication is replaced by the process of relating numbers to

powers and then adding the powers.

If there were a simple way of relating numbers such as 9 and 27 to powers of 3 and then
relating powers of 3 to numbers such as 243, the process of multiplying two numbers could
be converted to the simpler process of adding two powers. In the past a system based on
this reasoning was created. It was done using tables that were constructed of numbers and
their respective powers. In this instance:

Number Power of 3
1 0
3 1
9 2
27 3
81 4
243 5
 ... …
They were not called tables of powers but tables of logarithms.

Solution:

Rules of logarithms

Since logarithms are powers, the rules that govern the manipulation of logarithms
closely follow the rules of powers.
The following important results are also obtained from these rules:

Base 10 and base e

On a typical calculator there are buttons that provide access to logarithms to two different
bases, namely 10 and the exponential number e = 2.71828
Logarithms to base 10 were commonly used in conjunction with tables for arithmetic
calculations – they are called common logarithms and are written without indicating the
base. For example:

log10 1.2345 is normally written simply as log 1.2345

The logarithms to base e are called natural logarithms and are important for their
mathematical properties. These also are written in an alternative form:

loge1.2345 is written as ln 1.2345

Notice that for any base the:

logarithm of 1 is zero
logarithm of 0 is not defined
logarithm of a number greater than 1 is positive
logarithm of a number between 0 and 1 is negative
logarithm of a negative number cannot be evaluated as a real number.
Change of base

Complete each of the following:

(a) log2 3.66 = ___________________ (c) log9.9 6.35 = _____________

(b) log3.4 0.293 = _________________ (d) log7.34 7.34 = ____________

Solution:

Logarithmic equations

The following four examples serve to show you how logarithmic expressions and
equations can be manipulated.
Review Summary