Laws of Exponents & Logarithms

a) LAWS OF EXPONENTS:

i) LAW OF ADDITION: 𝑎𝑚 × 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚+𝑛 the product of 2 numbers (in exponent

notation 𝑖. 𝑒 𝑎𝑚 , 𝑎𝑛 (to the same base “a”)-equals the base raised to the power of
𝑎𝑚
the “sum of the exponents” (to the same base). When you divide 2 nos., i.e., =
𝑎𝑛
𝑎𝑚−𝑛 ⋯ *
Note:
• *this follows from the LAW OF ADDITION when n is negative (-n) i.e., m+(-n) =
m-n;
ii) LAW OF PRODUCTS of exponents follows from the LAW OF ADDITION i.e.,
(𝑎𝑚 )𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚 × 𝑎𝑚 × 𝑎𝑚 × … … . 𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 = 𝑎(𝑚+𝑚+𝑚+⋯ ) = 𝑎𝑚×𝑛

LOGARITHMS- is a way of writing the above exponent notation for representing any
positive (non-zero) REAL NOS.
Using SETS notation, we say that logarithms are defined for all 𝑵 ∈ ℝ, 𝑵 > 𝟎

So, when we write 𝑎𝑚 = 𝑁 it is equivalent to writing 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝑵 =𝒎

and is read as “logarithm of “N” to the base “a” equals “m”
Conversely, “log a 𝑁 = 𝑚 ⇒ 𝑎𝑚 = 𝑁”

b)LAWS OF LOGARITHMS: The laws of logarithms follow directly from the Laws
of Exponents (or Indices- as it is also called).
i) Addition of Logarithms: 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒙 × 𝒚 = 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒙 + 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒚- i.e., the product of
the logarithms of 2 positive nos. equals the sum of the logarithms of the 2 nos.
(follows from 𝑎𝑚 × 𝑎𝑛 = 𝑎𝑚+𝑛 );
𝒙
Corollary: 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 = 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒙 − 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒚
𝒚

𝒎
𝒎
Corollary: 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒙 𝒏 = ( ) × 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒙 where “m”, n” are REAL Nos;𝑛 ≠ 0
𝒏

(Note: the base “a” cannot be zero and 𝑥 is always positive. Logarithms ARE NOT
defined for negative nos.)

iii) Let 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝑵 = 𝒙 . This is equivalent to 𝒂𝒙 = 𝑵 (see above definition of

logarithms).
Hence if we substitute for 𝑥 here, we can write 𝒂𝒙 ≡ 𝒂(𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝑵) = 𝑵
So we have derived a very important identity viz. 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒂 𝑵 = 𝑵
This is a very useful result (and may be kept to memory!).
You can look at this as “the raising to a power and the taking of logarithms are
mutually 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 operations on a function (i.e., exponential or logarithmic
function). This is very much like the 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒 operation on numbers viz.
𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑣𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑣𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛.
We can easily see: 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝒂 = 𝟏 & 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒂 𝟏 = 𝟎 (which is the same as 𝒂𝟏 = 𝒂 &
𝒂𝟎 = 𝟏 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚
Logarithms were invented in 1614 by John Napier and was primarily used to help in
multiplication (and raising to a power) and division (and extracting the root) of large
numbers encountered in astronomy at that time. He compiled a table of
“logarithms” for various numbers > 1, with fractional increments, using a base
slightly greater than 2.
Later a mathematician named Briggs, used the base 10 instead and compiled the
“log” tables- also known as 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒎𝒔.
If you look up old Physics/Math text books you will see these “log” tables (which are
for the base 10 i.e.,log10 𝑁)
Also look it up in your calculator and note the log values for any number you plug in.
In the 18th century, the great German mathematician Leonard Euler discovered a
number known as “𝑒” = 2.7128 …. – which is an infinite non-recurring decimal
(like 𝜋).
The number “e” is now known as 𝐸𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑟 ′ 𝑠 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 and is used extensively in
CALCULUS and many other fields.
Just like “common” (or Briggsian) logarithms use base 10, for higher mathematics-
we use “e” (= 2.7128……) as the base and “log to the base e” is known as “natural
logarithms”.
To distinguish between base 10 (common) and base “e” logarithms, the math
symbols used are 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑁 for base 10 logarithms (the base 10 is not usually
mentioned- it is understood to be 10) and 𝑙𝑛𝑁 for logarithms to the base “e”, and is
sometimes (in old math/science books) is also written as 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑒 𝑁
Interestingly, the base “e” is called the “Napierian base” to honour the inventor of
logarithms.
You can read the beautiful story of this famous, and now ubiquitous number in the
book “e- The Story of a Number”- to know more above the famous ideas of the
17th-18th centuries that led to path breaking stuff which you now learn in G-
10,11,12!
Change of Base law:
Let 𝑎 = 𝑐 𝑚 and 𝑏 = 𝑐 𝑛 where 𝑐 ≠ 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚, 𝑛 ∈ ℝ (i.e. Real Nos)
1 1
So, 𝑐 = 𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐 = 𝑏 𝑛 … (1)

Using the “Logarithm Power Law” we can express the numbers a, b, c in

1 1
the (equivalent) logarithmic for as: log 𝑐 𝑎 = log 𝑐 𝑏
𝑚 𝑛
log𝑐 𝑎 𝑚
Hence, = … (2)
log𝑐 𝑏 𝑛
Now let’s take “logs” on (to the base a) on both side of equation (1):
1 1
log 𝑎 𝑎 = log a 𝑏
𝑚 𝑛
1 1 log 𝑏
⇒ 𝑚 = 𝑛 log 𝑎 𝑏 ⇒ (𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (2)𝑤𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑡 log 𝑎 𝑏 = log 𝑐 𝑎 .
𝑐
The LHS is simply “the logarithm of “b” to the base “a”, even though we
started off taking “logs” of both these numbers to the common base “c”.
Since this result applies to the ratio of the “logs” of 2 numbers, to any
common base “c” we can as well drop the base “c” itself, implying, you
can have an arbitrary base.
log10 𝑏 log𝑒 𝑏
For example: log a 𝑏 = or = . The base can be any non-zero
log10 𝑎 log𝑒 𝑎
number and the result still holds good.
So, we have the important result (“change of base”):
𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒄 𝒃 log 𝑏
= 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒂 𝒃 or simply log 𝑎 𝑏 = .
𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒄 𝒂 log 𝑎
log 𝑎
Now if we swap the numbers “a” and “b” we get log 𝑏 𝑎 =
log 𝑏
1
So, log 𝑎 𝑏 = .
log𝑏 𝑎

The “change of base” rule is useful for evaluating “log” equations having
different bases like log 5 𝑥 + log 20 60 − log10 43 = log 25 100. Find 𝑥 and
also for evaluating the “log” of some number to any base, given that you
know the “log” of this number to the base 10 (or base “e”), which can be
looked up on your calculator.

Like log 5 35 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡?

 log10 35
log 5 35 = . Look up both these “logs” in your calculator (i.e.,
log10 5
log10 𝑥 and find the ratio which is the sought for “log” (to the base 5).

Let’s use this interesting property to evaluate 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 25 (use your

calculator!).
You will notice that your calculator or 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 has only 2 keys i.e.
“log” and “ln”, which means that you cannot get the answer using your
calculator alone.
(log𝟏𝟎 25)
Let’s try this: 𝑙𝑜𝑔3 25 ≡ (log𝟏𝟎 3)
using the ”change of base rule” we learnt
a while ago, and 𝑙𝑜- you can indeed plug the log keys into your calculator
as we know that 𝑙𝑜𝑔 stands for base 10 (just as 𝑙𝑛 stands for base 𝑒