Logarithmic function

Definition: By Logarithmic function, we mean a function in the form f ( x) = log a x .

Restrictions

Regarding the base a of the logarithm we want it to be a number bigger than 0 and different
than 1.

Regarding the argument x of the logarithm, we want it to be strictly bigger than 0.

Therefore, given the function f ( x) = log a x , we need a  0, a  1, x  0 .

Considering the restrictions set for the function’s base we can see that two new cases can be
created:

Case 1: 0  a  1

Case 2: a  1

We will now study each of these cases separately and see their corresponding graphs.

Case 1 (Base of the logarithm is between 0 and 1)

The graph of a function f ( x) = log a x , 0  a  1 , will look like the one that follows:

Domain: We already stated that this function is defined

only for values of x for which the argument (in
our case x) is strictly bigger than 0.

Therefore D f = ( 0, + )

Range: As we can see from the graph itself, there are

not any restrictions considering the y–values.

Therefore R f = ( −, + ) = R
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X-intercept: The graph cuts the x-axis at the point

(1,0). Of course this could have been
easily found by inserting 0 in place of y
and solving for x.
Y-intercept: Due to the restriction regarding the x-values,
we cannot plug in 0 in place of x and
therefore we would not be able to find a
y-intercept for the graph. As long as the
function is like this and we do not have any
horizontal translations, the graph will not have
any y-intercept.

Vertical asymptote: Considering what we mentioned earlier and from the way the graph looks,
we can notice that the graph has a vertical asymptote which in this case is
the y-axis itself.
In fact to find the vertical asymptote of a logarithmic function, all we need
is, to take the logarithm’s argument, make it equal to 0 and solve for x.

Monotonicity: The graph is decreasing. This also implies that the graph cannot have a minimum
or maximum point

Sign of the function: The function takes positive values for x-values smaller than the graph’s x-
intercept and from that point starts taking negative values respectively.

End behavior: As x-values tend to 0 the y-values tend to become infinitely big, while as x-values
tend to become infinitely large, the corresponding y-values tend to become

infinitely negative ones. x → 0+  y → + and x → +  y → − .

2
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Case 2 (Base of the logarithm is bigger than 1)

The graph of a function f ( x) = log a x , a  1 , will look like the one that follows:

Following the same reasoning as in case 1 we would have:

Domain: D f = ( 0, + )

Range: R f = ( −, + ) = R

X-intercept: (1,0)

Y-intercept: Not any

Vertical asymptote: y-axis

Horizontal asymptote: Not any

Monotonicity: increasing

Sign: Negative up until x-intercept

Positive from x-intercept

End behavior: as x-values become infinitely large, the y-values tend to become infinitely large

as well. As x-values tend close to 0, the corresponding y-values tend to become

infinitely negative ones. x → 0+  y → − and x → +  y → +