Lecture 4 : General Logarithms and Exponentials.

For a > 0 and x any real number, we define

ax = ex ln a , a > 0.

The function ax is called the exponential function with base a.

Note that ln(ax ) = x ln a is true for all real numbers x and all a > 0. (We saw this before for x a
rational number).
Note: We have no definition for ax when a < 0, when x is irrational.
√ √ √ √
For example 2 2
=e 2 ln 2
, 2− 2 , (−2) 2 (no definition).
Algebraic rules
The following Laws of Exponent follow from the laws of exponents for the natural exponential func-
tion.
ax
ax+y = ax ay ax−y = y (ax )y = axy (ab)x = ax bx
a
Proof ax+y = e(x+y) ln a = ex ln a+y ln a = ex ln a ey ln a = ax ay . etc...
2 +1
(ax )2 ax
Example Simplify a2
.

Differentiation
The following differentiation rules also follow from the rules of differentiation for the natural expo-
nential.
d x d x ln a d g(x) d g(x) ln a
(a ) = (e ) = ax ln a (a ) = e = g 0 (x)ag(x) ln a
dx dx dx dx

Example Differentiate the following function:

2 +1
f (x) = (1000)2x .

Graphs of Exponential functions. Case 1: 0 < a < 1

• y-intercept: The y-intercept is given by y = a0 = e0 ln a = e0 = 1.

• x-intercept: The values of ax = ex ln a are always positive and there is no x intercept.

1
 d
• Slope: If 0 < a < 1, the graph of y = ax has a negative slope and is always decreasing, dx
(ax ) =
ax ln a < 0. In this case a smaller value of a gives a steeper curve.
d2
• The graph is concave up since the second derivative is dx2
(ax ) = ax (ln a)2 > 0.
• As x → ∞, x ln a approaches −∞, since ln a < 0 and therefore ax = ex ln a → 0.
• As x → −∞, x ln a approaches ∞, since both x and ln a are less than 0. Therefore ax = ex ln a → ∞.
For 0 < a < 1, lim ax = 0, lim ax = ∞ .
x→∞ x→−∞

y=H12Lx

50
y=H14Lx

40 y=H18Lx

30 y=1x

20

10

-4 -2 2 4

Graphs of Exponential functions. Case 2: a > 1

• y-intercept: The y-intercept is given by y = a0 = e0 ln a = e0 = 1.
• x-intercept: The values of ax = ex ln a are always positive and there is no x intercept.
d
• If a > 1, the graph of y = ax has a positive slope and is always increasing, dx
(ax ) = ax ln a > 0.
d2
• The graph is concave up since the second derivative is dx2
(ax ) = ax (ln a)2 > 0.
• In this case a larger value of a gives a steeper curve.
• As x → ∞, x ln a approaches ∞, since ln a > 0 and therefore ax = ex ln a → ∞
• As x → −∞, x ln a approaches −∞, since x < 0 and ln a > 0. Therefore ax = ex ln a → 0.

For a > 1, lim ax = ∞, lim ax = 0 .

x→∞ x→−∞

y=2x

120

y=4x
100

y=8x 80

60

40

20

-4 -2 2 4

2
 Functions of the form (f (x))g(x) .
Derivatives We now have 4 different types of functions involving bases and powers. So far we have
dealt with the first three types:
If a and b are constants and g(x) > 0 and f (x) and g(x) are both differentiable functions.

d b d d g(x) d
a = 0, (f (x))b = b(f (x))b−1 f 0 (x), a = g 0 (x)ag(x) ln a, (f (x))g(x)
dx dx dx dx
d
For dx (f (x))g(x) , we use logarithmic differentiation or write the function as (f (x))g(x) = eg(x) ln(f (x))
and use the chain rule.
2
Example Differentiate x2x , x > 0.

Limits
To calculate limits of functions of this type it may help write the function as (f (x))g(x) = eg(x) ln(f (x)) .
Example What is limx→∞ x−x

General Logarithmic functions

Since f (x) = ax is a monotonic function whenever a 6= 1, it has an inverse which we denote by
f −1 (x) = loga x. We get the following from the properties of inverse functions:

f −1 (x) = y if and only if f (y) = x

loga (x) = y if and only if ay = x

f (f −1 (x)) = x f −1 (f (x)) = x

aloga (x) = x loga (ax ) = x.

3
 Converting to the natural logarithm
It is not difficult to show that loga x has similar properties to ln x = loge x. This follows from the
Change of Base Formula which shows that The function loga x is a constant multiple of ln x.

ln x
loga x =
ln a

The algebraic properties of the natural logarithm thus extend to general logarithms, by the change of
base formula.

loga 1 = 0, loga (xy) = loga (x) + loga (y), loga (xr ) = r loga (x).
for any positive number a 6= 1. In fact for most calculations (especially limits, derivatives and integrals)
it is advisable to convert loga x to natural logarithms. The most commonly used logarithm functions
are log10 x and ln x = loge x.
Since loga x is the inverse function of ax , it is easy to derive the properties of its graph from the graph
y = ax , or alternatively, from the change of base formula loga x = ln x
ln a
.

10

10

-4 -2 2 4

y=2x y=H12Lx

-4 -2 2 4
-5
y=Log2 x y=Log12 x

Basic Application
√
Example Express as a single number log5 25 − log5 5

4
 Using the change of base formula for Derivatives
From the above change of base formula for loga x, we can easily derive the following differentiation
formulas:
d 1 d g 0 (x)
(loga x) = (loga g(x)) = .
dx x ln a dx g(x) ln a

d
Example Find dx
log2 (x sin x).

A special limit and an approximation of e

We derive the following limit formula by taking the derivative of f (x) = ln x at x = 1:

ln(1 + x)
lim = lim ln(1 + x)1/x = 1.
x→0 x x→0

Applying the (continuous) exponential function to the limit we get

e = lim (1 + x)1/x
x→0

Note If we substitute y = 1/x in the above limit we get

1 y
  1 n
e = lim 1 + and e = lim 1+
y→∞ y n→∞ n

where n is an integer (see graphs below). We look at large values of n below to get an approximation
of the value ofe. n  n
1 1
n = 10 → 1 + n = 2.59374246, n = 100 → 1 + n = 2.70481383,
 n  n
1 1
n = 100 → 1 + n
= 2.71692393, n = 1000 → 1 + n
= 2.1814593.

Example Find limx→0 (1 + x2 )1/x .

5
 y = H1 + xL1x
9

-1.0 -0.5 0.5 1.0

y = H1 + 1xLx
2.70

2.68

2.66

2.64

2.62

2.60

2.58

2.56
20 40 60 80 100

points Hn, H1 + 1nLn L, n = 1...100

2.70

2.68

2.66

2.64

2.62

2.60

2.58

20 40 60 80 100

6
 Extras for discussion at your Friday night Calculus Party
Example Differentiate the following functions:
√ √
x x3 2 x
f (x) = 102 g(x) = (1000)2 , x +3 , (x2 + 3) x
.

Example Evaluate the following limits:

2 2 √ x
lim 2x , lim (1/2)x lim (x2 + (1/3) x
), , lim (1 + x)1/x , lim (1 + )1/x
x→0 x→0 x→∞ x→0 x→0 5

Use the change of base formula for the next 3 problems

Example Solve for x if 50 = 2x−1

Example Evaluate the limit limx→0 log1/3 (x2 + x).

1
R
Example Evaluate the integral x log2 x
dx.

lim ln(1 + x)1/x = 1.

x→0

Richter Scale: The Richter scale gives the magnitude of an earthquake to be

log10 (I/S)
where S =intensity of a standard quake giving an amplitude of 1 micron = 10−4 cm on a seismograph
100 km from the epicenter. I = intensity of the earthquake in question measured on a seismograph 100
km from the epicenter (or an estimate thereof from a model).

If a quake has intensity I = 1 (cm on seismograph 100 km from epicenter) what is its magnitude?
If a quake has intensity I = 10 (cm on seismograph 100 km from epicenter) what is its magnitude?
Note that a magnitude 5 quake has an intensity 10 times that of a 4 quake etc....
Chile, 1960, 9.5, Alaska, 1964, 9.2, 2004, Sumatra Indonesia, 9.1. , Had a 3 in Indiana recently ?

7
 Solutions to Extras
proof that limx→0 (1 + x)1/x = e:
Let f (x) = ln x, then

ln(1 + h) − ln 1 ln(1 + h)
f 0 (1) = lim = lim = lim ln(1 + h)1/h .
h→0 h h→0 h h→0

Now f 0 (x) = 1/x, therefore f 0 (1) = 1 and

lim ln(1 + h)1/h = 1.

h→0

Applying the exponential (which is a continuous function) to both sides, we get

1/h 1/h
elimh→0 ln(1+h) = lim eln(1+h) = lim (1 + h)h = e1 = e
h→0 h→0

Example Differentiate the following functions:

√ √
x x3 2 x
f (x) = 102 g(x) = (1000)2 , h(x) = x + 3 , k(x) = (x2 + 3) x
.

f (x) = 10ex ln 2 , using chain rule: f 0 (x) = 10ex ln 2 ln 2 = 10(ln 2)2x .

3 3 3
g(x) = (1000)ex ln 2
, using chain rule: g 0 (x) = 1000ex ln 2
3x2 ln 2 = 3000x2 (ln 2)2x .
√ √ 1 ln 3 √
h(x) = x2 + e x ln 3
, using chain rule: h0 (x) = 2x + e x ln 3
√ ln 3 = 2x + √ 3 x .
2 x 2 x
For y = k(x), we can use logarithmic differentiation.
√ √
y = (x2 + 3) x
→ ln y = x ln(x2 + 3).

Differentiating both sides we get

1 dy 1 √ 2x
= √ ln(x2 + 3) + x 2
y dx 2 x x +3
√
Multiplying both sides by y = (x2 + 3) x
, we get
√ √
dy (x2 + 3) x
2 2x3/2 (x2 + 3) x
= √ ln(x + 3) +
dx 2 x x2 + 3

Example Evaluate the following limits:

2 √ x
lim 2x , lim log2 (x2 ) lim (x2 + (1/3) x
), lim (1 + )1/x
x→0 x→0 x→∞ x→0 5
2 2
lim 2x = 2limx→0 (x ) = 20 = 1.
x→0

ln(x2 ) limx→0 ln(x2 )

lim log2 (x2 ) = lim = = −∞ since ln 2 > 0.
x→0 x→0 ln 2 ln 2
√ √ √
x ln(1/3) − x ln(3)
lim (x2 + (1/3) x
) = lim x2 + lim (e) = lim x2 + lim (e) .
x→∞ x→∞ x→∞ x→∞ x→∞

8
 √ √
As x → ∞, we have − x ln 3 → −∞ and limx→∞ (e)− x ln(3) = 0. Therefore
√
lim (x2 + (1/3) x
) = lim x2 = ∞.
x→∞ x→∞

" #1/5
x x
lim (1 + )1/x = lim (1 + y)1/(5y) = lim (1 + y)1/(y) = e1/5 , where y = .
x→0 5 y→0 y→0 5

Example Solve for x if 50 = 2x−1

We could apply log2 to both sides of this equation to get

log2 (50) = log2 (2x−1 ) = x − 1.

Solving for x, we get x = log2 (50) + 1.

As an alternative option, we could apply ln to both sides of the equation 50 = 2x−1 , to get

ln(50) = ln(2x−1 ) = (x − 1) ln 2.
ln(50)
Solving for x, we get x = ln(2)
+ 1. This is of course the same answer as before.

1
R
Example Evaluate the integral x log2 x
dx.
We use the change of base formula to get
Z Z Z
1 ln(2) 1
dx = dx = ln(2) dx.
x log2 x x ln(x) x ln(x)

Let u = ln(x), then du = x1 dx. We get

Z Z
1 1
ln(2) dx = ln(2) du = ln(2) ln(u) + C = ln(2) ln(ln(x)) + C.
x ln(x) u

Richter Scale: The Richter scale gives the magnitude of an earthquake to be

log10 (I/S)

where S =intensity of a standard quake giving an amplitude of 1 micron = 10−4 cm on a seismograph

100 km from the epicenter. I = intensity of the earthquake in question measured on a seismograph 100
km from the epicenter (or an estimate thereof from a model).

If a quake has intensity I = 1 (cm on seismograph 100 km from epicenter) what is its magnitude?
If a quake has intensity I = 10 (cm on seismograph 100 km from epicenter) what is its magnitude?
Note that a magnitude 5 quake has an intensity 10 times that of a 4 quake etc....
Chile, 1960, 9.5, Alaska, 1964, 9.2, 2004, Sumatra Indonesia, 9.1. , Had a 3 in Indiana recently ?