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The natural logarithm of x is generally written as ln x, log e x, or sometimes, if the base e is implicit, simply log x. [2] [3] Parentheses are sometimes added for clarity, giving ln(x), log e (x), or log(x). This is done particularly when the argument to the logarithm is not a single symbol, so as to prevent ambiguity.
Since e is an irrational number (see proof that e is irrational), it cannot be represented as the quotient of two integers, but it can be represented as a continued fraction. Using calculus, e may also be represented as an infinite series, infinite product, or other types of limit of a sequence.
The number e is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828 that is the base of the natural logarithm and exponential function.It is sometimes called Euler's number, after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, though this can invite confusion with Euler numbers, or with Euler's constant, a different constant typically denoted .
Exponential functions with bases 2 and 1/2. In mathematics, the exponential function is the unique real function which maps zero to one and has a derivative equal to its value. . The exponential of a variable is denoted or , with the two notations used interchangeab
The notation convention chosen here (with W 0 and W −1) follows the canonical reference on the Lambert W function by Corless, Gonnet, Hare, Jeffrey and Knuth. [3]The name "product logarithm" can be understood as follows: since the inverse function of f(w) = e w is termed the logarithm, it makes sense to call the inverse "function" of the product we w the "product logarithm".
If p is a probability, then p/(1 − p) is the corresponding odds; the logit of the probability is the logarithm of the odds, i.e.: = = = = (). The base of the logarithm function used is of little importance in the present article, as long as it is greater than 1, but the natural logarithm with base e is the one most often used.
The logarithm is denoted "log b x" (pronounced as "the logarithm of x to base b", "the base-b logarithm of x", or most commonly "the log, base b, of x "). An equivalent and more succinct definition is that the function log b is the inverse function to the function x ↦ b x {\displaystyle x\mapsto b^{x}} .
The definition of e x as the exponential function allows defining b x for every positive real numbers b, in terms of exponential and logarithm function. Specifically, the fact that the natural logarithm ln(x) is the inverse of the exponential function e x means that one has = () = for every b > 0.