LOGARITHMS

WHY DO WE STUDY LOGARITHMS ?

WHAT IS LOG?
 

WHAT IS LOG?

5
❑ Discovered by the Scottish Laird, John
Napier of Merchiston in 1614 as a means
of simplifying calculations
❑ He was a mathematician, astronom er,
astrologer and physicist
❑ He believed in black magic and used to
travel with a spider in a box and his
familiar spirit was a black rooster
❑ They were rapidly adopted by navigators,
scientists, engineers, surveyors and others
to perform high-accuracy computations
more easily.
 LOGARITHMIC IDENTITIES :
1. Product, quotient, power and root:
• The logarithm of a product is the sum of the logarithms of the numbers
being multiplied, the logarithm of the ratio of two numbers is the difference of the
logarithms.
• The logarithm of the p-th power of a number is p times the logarithm of the
number itself; the logarithm of a p-th root is the logarithm of the number divided
by p. The following table lists these identities with examples.
• Each of the identities can be derivedafter substitution of the

logarithm definitions in the left hand sides

left hand sides.
 Natural logarithms are

LOG BASE
A common
different than common
logarithms. While the
base of a common
logarithm is any logarithm is 10, the base
of a natural logarithm is
logarithm with base the special number e.
10. Recall that our Although this looks like a
number system is base variable, it represents a
10; there are ten digits fixed irrational number
from 0-9, and place approximately equal to The binary
value is determined by 2.718281828459. (Like pi, logarithm uses
groups of ten. You can it continues without a
remember a “common repeating pattern in its base 2 (that is b
digits.) e is sometimes
logarithm,” then, as called Euler′s number or = 2) and is
any logarithm whose
base is our “common”
Napier’s constant, and commonly used
the letter e was chosen
base, 10. to honor the in computer
mathematician Leonhard
applications in Euler (pronounced oiler). science.
science and its use is widespread in
engineering mathematics and
physics, because of its
simpler integral and
derivative.
◼

The
“base”
SOLVING EQUATIONS OF THE FORM AX = B
We can use logarithms to solve equations of the form ax = b.
For example:

Find x to 3 significant figures if 52x = 30.

We can solve this by taking logs of both sides:

log 52x = log 30
2x log 5 = log 30

Using a calculator:
x = 1.06 (to 3 s.f.)
SOLVING EQUATIONS OF THE FORM AX = B
Find x to 3 significant figures if 43x+1 = 7x+2.

Taking logs of both sides:

SOLVING EQUATIONS OF THE FORM AX = B
Solve 32x –5(3x) + 4 = 0 to 3 significant figures.
If we let y = 3x we can write the equation as:

So:
If 3x = 1 then x = 0.
Now, solving 3x = 4 by taking logs of both sides:
EXAMINATION-STYLE QUESTION
Julia starts a new job on a salary of £15 000 per annum. She
is promised that her salary will increase by 4.5% at the end of
each year. If she stays in the same job how long will it be
before she earns more than double her starting salary?

15 000 × 1.045n = 30 000

1.045n = 2
log 1.045n = log 2
n log 1.045 = log 2

15.7

Julia’s starting salary will have doubled after 16 years.

Deposit money grows double in 6 years in a bank, at the interest rate of “I”. Find the
value of I .
Soln: Let,
Deposit Money = P
So, Future value = 2P (as per the condition)
Number of years, N = 6
Rate of Interest, I = ?
We Have,
2P = P(1+I)^6
⇒ 2 = (1+I)^6
⇒ log 2 = log (1+I)^6
⇒ Log 2 = 6 log(1+I)
⇒ 6log (1+I) = log2
⇒ log (1+I) = 0.301029995/ 6
⇒ log (1+I) = 0.050171666
⇒ (1+I) = Antilog 0.050171666
⇒ (1+I) = 1.1225
⇒ I= 1.1225-1
⇒ I = 0.1225 or 12.25%;