Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Logarithms can be used to make calculations easier. For example, two numbers can be multiplied just by using a logarithm table and adding. These are often known as logarithmic properties, which are documented in the table below. [2] The first three operations below assume that x = b c and/or y = b d, so that log b (x) = c and log b (y) = d.
In mathematics, change of base can mean any of several things: Changing numeral bases, such as converting from base 2 to base 10 . This is known as base conversion. The logarithmic change-of-base formula, one of the logarithmic identities used frequently in algebra and calculus.
For example, the logarithm of 1000 to base 10 is 3, because 1000 is 10 to the 3 rd power: 1000 = 10 3 = 10 × 10 × 10. More generally, if x = b y, then y is the logarithm of x to base b, written log b x, so log 10 1000 = 3. As a single-variable function, the logarithm to base b is the inverse of exponentiation with base b.
The product logarithm Lambert W function plotted in the complex plane from −2 − 2i to 2 + 2i The graph of y = W(x) for real x < 6 and y > −4.The upper branch (blue) with y ≥ −1 is the graph of the function W 0 (principal branch), the lower branch (magenta) with y ≤ −1 is the graph of the function W −1.
For example, log 10 10000 = 4, and log 10 0.001 = −3. These are instances of the discrete logarithm problem. Other base-10 logarithms in the real numbers are not instances of the discrete logarithm problem, because they involve non-integer exponents. For example, the equation log 10 53 = 1.724276… means that 10 1.724276… = 53.
This change can be computed by substituting the "old" coordinates for their expressions in terms of the "new" coordinates. More precisely, if f(x) is the expression of the function in terms of the old coordinates, and if x = Ay is the change-of-base formula, then f(Ay) is the expression of the same function in terms of the new coordinates.
A logarithmic unit is a unit that can be used to express a quantity (physical or mathematical) on a logarithmic scale, that is, as being proportional to the value of a logarithm function applied to the ratio of the quantity and a reference quantity of the same type. The choice of unit generally indicates the type of quantity and the base of the ...
An important property of base-10 logarithms, which makes them so useful in calculations, is that the logarithm of numbers greater than 1 that differ by a factor of a power of 10 all have the same fractional part. The fractional part is known as the mantissa. [b] Thus, log tables need only show the fractional part. Tables of common logarithms ...