ChangingfromExponentialtoLogarithmicForm

DifferentForms?

Inthealphabetletterscanbewrittenindifferentways,eitherinlowercaseoruppercaseandeventhough
thelettersmaylookdifferenttheletterstillmeansthesamething.Forexample,ifwetaketheletterM,it
canbewrittenasMorm,butwhentheletterisusedinawordtheletterstillhasthesamemeaningor
sound.Thesamethingcanbedonewithexponentialequations.Exponentialequationscanbewrittenin
logarithmicform andalthoughtheequationswilllookdifferent,theequationsstillhavethesamemeaning.

Whatisa Logarithm?

Todiscusswhatalogarithmis,weneedtotakealookatanexponentialfunction.So,letsstartwitha
genericexponentialfunction,sayy=bx.Ifwedrawthegraphoftheexponentialfunction,wewillgetone
oftwopossiblegraphs.Ifb>1,thenthegraphcreatedwillbeexponentialgrowth.If0<b<1,thenthe
graphcreatedwillbeexponentialdecay.Bothgraphsareshownbelow.

Lookingatthegraphsshownabove,wecanseethatnohorizontallinecanbedrawnthatwouldintersectthe
graphoftheexponentialfunctionsatmorethanonepoint.Thismeansthatexponentialfunctionsareoneto
onefunctionsandonetoonefunctionsmusthaveaninverse.So,letstryandfindtheinverseofan
exponentialfunction,f(x)=bx.Herearethestepsforfindingtheinversefunction.

Step1:Doesthefunctionhaveaninverse? Yes,fromaboveweknowthatexponentialfunctionsare
onetoonefunctionsandonetoonefunctionshave
inverses.

Step2:Changef(x)toy. y=bx

Step3:Switchxandy. x=by

Step4:Solvefory. Thisiswheretheproblemarises.Uptothispoint,wedo
nothaveawaytosolvethistypeof problemandthisis
wherelogarithmscomefrom.Theneedtosolvethe
problemx=by,fory.

Logarithmswerecreatedbecausethereneededtobeawaytosolvetheproblemx=by.Otherwise,
exponentialfunctionswouldnothaveaninverseandsinceexponentialfunctionsareonetoonetheymust
haveaninverse.Basically,logarithmicfunctionsaretheinverseofexponentialfunctions.
DefinitionofLogarithms

Logarithmswerecreatedtobetheinverseofanexponentialfunction.Togiveustheabilitytosolvethe
problem x=by fory.Thisledtothedefinitionshownbelow.

DefinitionofaLogarithm

Forx>0andb>0,b 1, y =log b x isequivalenttoby =x.

Atfirstglancethisdefinitiondoesnotmakealotofsense,butrememberwhatwesaidearlieraboutthe
letterM,itcanbewrittenasMormandtheybothmeanthesamething.So,letslookathowthisidea
appliestothedefinitionofalogarithm.Thedefinitionofalogarithmgivesustheabilitytowriteanequation
twodifferentwaysandeventhoughthesetwoequationslookdifferent,bothequationshavethesame
meaning.

Fromthedefinitionofalogarithmwegettwoequations, y =log b x andby =x. Theequationsy = log b x and

by =x aredifferentwaysofexpressingthesamething.Theequationy =log b x iswritteninlogarithmic
form andtheequationby =xiswrittenin exponentialform.Thetwoequationsarejustdifferentwaysof
writingthesamething,similartohowwecan writeMtwodifferentways.

Donotspendtoomuchtimetryingtounderstandthemeaningofthedifferentequations.Allyoureally
needtoknowisthatalogarithmicfunctionistheinverseofanexponentialfunctionandall
exponentialequationscanbewritteninlogarithmicform.

ChangingfromExponentialFormtoLogarithmicForm

Tolearnhowtochangeanequationfromexponentialformtologarithmicform,letslookataspecific
example.Considertheexponentialequation5x =25,whatwouldthisequationlooklikeinlogarithmic
form? Theequation5x =25wouldbecomex =log 5 25, readx equalslogbase5of 25.

Thekeytochangingfrom exponential form intologarithmicformistopayattentiontothebase.In

exponentialform,5x =25,thenumber5inthisequationiscalledthebase,thesamebaseasinthe
logarithmicformoftheequation,logbase5.Noticethatthebase5changessides,inexponentialformthe
5isontheleftsideoftheequalsign,butinlogarithmicformthe5isontherightsideoftheequalsign.Also
notethatthexandthe25inboththeexponentialform andthelogarithmicform didnotchangesides.The
onlythingthatchangessidesisthebase5andthewordlogisaddedtothelogarithmicequation.

Tochangefromexponentialformtologarithmicform,identifythebaseoftheexponentialequation
andmovethebasetotheothersideoftheequalsignandaddthewordlog.Donotmoveanything
butthebase,theothernumbersorvariableswillnotchangesides.
ExamplesNowletslookatsomemoreexamplesofhowtochangefromexponentialformtologarithmic
form.

Example1:Writetheexponentialequation 43 =64inlogarithmicform.

Inthisexample,thebaseis4andthebasemovedfromthe
leftsideoftheexponentialequationtotherightsideofthe
logarithmicequation andtheword logwasadded.

Example2:Writetheexponentialequation 6x =53inlogarithmicform.

Inthisexample,thebaseis6andthebasemovedfromthe
leftsideoftheexponentialequationtotherightsideofthe
logarithmicequation andthewordlogwasadded.

Example3:Writetheexponentialequationx5 =73inlogarithmicform.

Inthisexample,thebaseisx andthebasemovedfromthe
leftsideoftheexponentialequationtotherightsideofthe
logarithmicequation andthewordlogwasadded.

Example4:Writetheexponentialequation98=7y inlogarithmicform.

Inthisexample,thebaseis7andthebasemovedfromthe
rightsideoftheexponentialequationtotheleftsideofthe
logarithmicequation andthewordlogwasadded.

Example5:Writetheexponentialequation37=y5 inlogarithmicform.

Inthisexample,thebaseisy andthebasemovedfromthe
rightsideoftheexponentialequationtotheleftsideofthe
logarithmicequation andthewordlogwasadded.

AdditionExamples

Ifyouwouldliketoseemoreexamplesofchangingfromexponentialformtologarithmicform,justclick
onthelinkbelow.

Additional Examples
PracticeProblems

Nowitisyourturntotryafewpracticeproblemsonyourown.Workoneachoftheproblemsbelowand
thenclickonthelinkattheendtocheckyouranswers.

Problem1:Writetheexponentialequation 25 =32 inlogarithmicform.

Problem2:Writetheexponentialequation 9x =88inlogarithmicform.

Problem 3:Writetheexponentialequation 67=3x inlogarithmicform.

Problem 4:Writetheexponentialequation x6 =135inlogarithmicform.

Problem5:Writetheexponentialequation 57=y4 inlogarithmicform.

Problem6:Writetheexponentialequation 74 =x inlogarithmicform.

SolutionstoPracticeProblems