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Solving Exponential Equations - Brilliant Math & Science Wiki

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43 views11 pages

Solving Exponential Equations - Brilliant Math & Science Wiki

Uploaded by

Gaurav Gupta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Solving Exponential Equations

To solve exponential equations, we need to consider the rule of exponents. These rules help us a lot in solving these type of
equations.

Contents
Same Base
Different Base

Problem Solving

Same Base

In solving exponential equations, the following theorem is often useful:

THEOREM

If is a non-zero constant and then

PROOF

We have
Here is how to solve exponential equations:

1. Manage the equation using the rule of exponents and some handy theorems in algebra.
2. Use the theorem above that we just proved.

EXAMPLE

Solve

Making the bases on both sides equal to 5 gives

EXAMPLE

Solve
Converting the bases of both sides to 2 gives

EXAMPLE

Find the value of when

We have Then the theorem "if is a non-zero constant and then " gives

EXAMPLE

If , what is ?

We have
Equating the powers, we get

EXAMPLE

If what is

We have

EXAMPLE

If what is

We have

Then the theorem "if and then " gives


Different Base

If the bases are different, there are still techniques for solving these exponential equations. If the bases are powers of a common
base, we need only convert one or both bases to the common base and proceed using the "Same Base" case.

EXAMPLE

Solve

We see that while 4 and 8 are different bases, they are both powers of a common base, namely 2. We'll proceed by rewriting 4
and 8 in terms of their common base:

EXAMPLE

Solve for

We have
Equating the powers gives

EXAMPLE

Solve

Reducing the bases of 27, 81, and 243 on both sides to 3 yields
Unfortunately, it won't always be possible to convert to a common base as we did in the examples above.

For instance, in solving , we note that 5 and 3 are not powers of a nice common base. In this case, we'll need to make
use of logarithms.

EXAMPLE

Solve

We have
Therefore,

Problem Solving

EXAMPLE

Given , find positive integers and .

We have
EXAMPLE

Solve

Since both sides of the equation have the same base, their exponents must also be the same:

EXAMPLE

If what is value of

Observe that can be factorized as follows:

Then which gives

EXAMPLE

If what is value of

can be factorized as follows:


This implies that either or Therefore the answer is

EXAMPLE

If what is value of

can be rewritten as

can be rewritten as

From and and are

Hence,

An exponential equation is one in which a variable occurs in the exponent. If both sides of the equation have the same base, then
the exponents on both sides are also the same:
Here is a list of some rules concerning exponential functions:

where and Always be cautious of and ; never forget to check if plugging a zero in an exponent works, or if
there are any bases that are equal to 1.

Cite as: Solving Exponential Equations. Brilliant.org. Retrieved 23:22, February 11, 2019, from https://brilliant.org/wiki/exponential-functions-solving-equations/

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