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LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

If a > 0 and a 1, the exponential function f(x) = ax is either increasing or decreasing, so it is one-to-one.
LOGARITHMIC FUNCTION

Thus, it has an inverse function f -1, which is called the logarithmic function with base a and is denoted by loga.

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

Definition 1

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

If we use the formulation of an inverse function given by (7.1.3),

f 1(x) = y f (y) = x
then we have:

Thus, if x > 0, then logax is the exponent to which the base a must be raised to give x.

log a x = y a y = x

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

Example 1

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

Example 1

Evaluate: (a) log381 (b) log255 (c) log100.001

(a) log381 = 4 since 34 = 81 (b) log255 = since 251/2 = 5 (c) log100.001 = -3 since 10-3 = 0.001

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LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

The logarithmic function loga has domain (0, ) and range R.

It is continuous since it is the inverse of a continuous function, namely, the exponential function. Its graph is the reflection of the graph of y = ax about the line y = x.

The figure shows the case where a > 1.

The most important logarithmic functions have base a > 1.

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

The fact that y = ax is a very rapidly increasing function for x > 0 is reflected in the fact that y = logax is a very slowly increasing function for x > 1.

The figure shows the graphs of y = logax with various values of the base a > 1.
Since loga1 = 0, the graphs of all logarithmic functions pass through the point (1, 0).

LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS

Theorem 3

The following theorem summarizes the properties of logarithmic functions.

If a > 1, the function f(x) = logax is a one-to-one, continuous, increasing function with domain (0, ) and range R.
If x, y > 0 and r is any real number, then

1. log a ( xy ) = log a x + log a y x 2. log a = log a x log a y y 3. log a ( x r ) = r log a x

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PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS

Example 2

PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS

Example 2 a

Use the properties of logarithms in Theorem 3 to evaluate: (a) log42 + log432 (b) log280 - log25

Using Property 1 in Theorem 3, we have:

log 4 2 + log 4 32 = log 4 ( 2 32 ) = log 4 64 =3

This is because 43 = 64.

PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS

Example 2 b

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

Using Property 2, we have:

80 log 2 80 log 2 5 = log 2 5 = log 2 16 =4

This is because 24 = 16.

The logarithm with base e is called the natural logarithm and has a special notation:

log e x = ln x
Remember that
e=2.71828182845904523536028747135266249775724709369995...

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

Definitions 5 and 6

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

If we put a = e and replace loge with ln in (1) and (2), then the defining properties of the natural logarithm function become:

In particular, if we set x = 1, we get:

ln x = y e = x
y

ln e = 1

ln( e x ) = x x eln x = x x>0

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NATURAL LOGARITHMS

E. g. 4Solution 1

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

E. g. 4Solution 1

Find x if ln x = 5.
From (5), we see that ln x = 5 means e5 = x Therefore, x = e5.

If you have trouble working with the ln notation, just replace it by loge.
Then, the equation becomes loge x = 5. So, by the definition of logarithm, e5 = x.

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

E. g. 4Solution 2

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

Example 5

Start with the equation ln x = 5. Then, apply the exponential function to both sides of the equation: eln x = e5
However, the second cancellation equation in Equation 6 states that eln x = x. Therefore, x = e5.

Solve the equation e5 - 3x = 10.

We take natural logarithms of both sides of the equation and use Definition 9: ln(e53 x ) = ln10

5 3 x = ln10 3 x = 5 ln10 1 x = (5 ln10) 3

As the natural logarithm is found on scientific calculators, we can approximate the solution to four decimal places: x 0.8991

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

Example 6

NATURAL LOGARITHMS

Express ln a + logarithm.

1 2

ln b as a single

Using Properties 3 and 1 of logarithms, we have:

1/ 2 ln a + 1 2 ln b = ln a + ln b

The following formula shows that logarithms with any base can be expressed in terms of the natural logarithm.

= ln a + ln b = ln(a b )

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CHANGE OF BASE FORMULA

Formula 7

For any positive number a (a 1), we have: ln x log a x = ln a