CHAPTER 3 LOGARITHMS

EXERCISE 12 Page 26

1. Evaluate: log1010000

Let x = log1010000 then from which, x=4

Hence, log1010000 = 4

2. Evaluate: log216

Let x = then from which, x=4

Hence, =4

3. Evaluate: log5125

Let x = log5125 then from which, x=3

Hence, log5125 = 3

4. Evaluate: log2

Let x = then from which, x = -3

Hence, =-3

5. Evaluate: log82

Let x = log82 then i.e. = from which, 3x = 1 and x =

Hence, log82 =

37
6. Evaluate: log7343

Let x = then from which, x=3

Hence, =3

7. Evaluate: lg 100

lg 100 = log10100

Let x = log10100 then from which, x=2

Hence, lg 100 = log10100 = 2

8. Evaluate: lg 0.01

Let x = then from which, x = - 2

Hence, =-2

9. Evaluate: log48

log 4 8
Let x = then i.e. i.e.

from which, 2x = 3 and x=

Hence, =1

10. Evaluate: log273

Let x = log273 then i.e. i.e.

from which, 3x = 1 and x=

38
Hence, log273 =

11. Evaluate: ln e2

Let x = then from which, x = 2

Hence, =2

12. Solve the equation: log10 x = 4

If then =x i.e. x = 10,000

13. Solve the equation: lg x = 5

If lg x = 5 i.e. then =x i.e. x = 100,000

14. Solve the equation: log3 x = 2

If then =x i.e. x = 9

15. Solve the equation: log4 x = - 2

If then x=

However, x = is not valid since the logarithm of a negative number has no solution.

Hence, x=

16. Solve the equation: lg x = - 2

39
If lg x = - 2 then and x = = or 0.01

17. Solve the equation: log8 x = -

If then x= =

18. Solve the equation: ln x = 3

If ln x = 3 i.e. then x =

40
EXERCISE 13 Page 28

1. Write log 2 + log 3 as the logarithm of a single number

log 2 + log 3 = log (2  3) by the first law of logarithms

= log 6

2. Write log 3 + log 5 as the logarithm of a single number

log 3 + log 5 = log (3  5) by the first law of logarithms

= log 15

3. Write log 3 + log 4 – log 6 as the logarithm of a single number

log 3 + log 4 – log 6 = = log 2

4. Write log 7 + log 21 – log 49 as the logarithm of a single number

log 7 + log 21 – log 49 = = log 3

5. Write 2 log 2 + log 3 as the logarithm of a single number

2 log 2 + log 3 = = log 12

6. Write 2 log 2 + 3 log 5 as the logarithm of a single number

2 log 2 + 3 log 5 = = log 500

41
7. Write 2 log 5 - log 81 + log 36 as the logarithm of a single number

2 log 5 – log 81 + log 36 =

= = log 100

8. Write as the logarithm of a single number

= = log 6

9. Write as the logarithm of a single number

= = log 10

10. Write as the logarithm of a single number

log 16 + 2 log 3 – log 18 =

42
 = = log 1 = 0

11. Write 2 log 2 + log 5 – log 10 as the logarithm of a single number

2 log 2 + log 5 - log 10 =

= = = log 2

12. Simplify: log 27 - log 9 + log 81

log 27 - log 9 + log 81 = = log 243 or log or 5 log 3

13. Simplify: log 64 + log 32 - log 128

log 64 + log 32 – log 128 = = 4 log 2

14. Simplify: log 8 - log 4 + log 32

log 8 - log 4 + log 32 = = log 64 or log or 6 log 2

15. Evaluate :

1 1
log16  log 8
2 3
log 4 =

= or 0.5

43
16. Evaluate :

= =

17. Solve the equation: log x4 - log x3 = log 5x - log 2x

Since log x4 - log x3 = log 5x - log 2x

then

i.e. log x = log 2.5 hence x = 2.5

18. Solve the equation: log 2t3 - log t = log 16 + log t

i.e. i.e.

from which, i.e. i.e. 2t(t – 8) = 0

Hence, t=8 (note that t = 0 is not a valid solution to the equation)

19. Solve the equation: 2 log b2 - 3 log b = log 8b - log 4b

Since 2 log b2 - 3 log b = log 8b - log 4b

44
then log b4 - log b3 = log 8b - log 4b

i.e.

i.e. log b = log 2 hence b = 2

20. Solve the equation: log(x + 1) + log(x – 1) = log 3

Since log(x + 1) + log(x – 1) = log 3

then log(x + 1)(x – 1) = log 3

i.e. (x + 1)(x – 1) = 3

i.e.

from which, and x =  2

In the given equation, x = - 2 is not possible, hence, x = 2

21. Solve the equation:

Since log 27 = log(0.5a) then

i.e.

i.e. log 3 = log(0.5a)

and 3 = 0.5 a

from which, a= =6

22. Solve the equation: log - log x = log 4

Since

45
then

and

from which, and

Factorising gives: (x – 5)(x + 1) = 0

from which, x = 5 or x = - 1

In the given equation, x = - 1 is not possible, hence, x = 5

46
EXERCISE 14 Page 30

1. Solve 3x = 6.4 correct to 4 significant figures

If then and

x= = 1.690, correct to 4 significant figures.

2. Solve 2x = 9 correct to 4 significant figures

If then and

x= = 3.170, correct to 4 significant figures.

3. Solve 2x-1 = 32x-1 correct to 4 significant figures

If then

i.e.

i.e.

Hence, x= = 0.2696, correct to 4 significant figures.

47
4. Solve x1.5 = 14.91 correct to 4 significant figures

Taking logarithms to base 10 of both sides gives:

log10 x1.5 = log10 14.91

1.5 log10 x = log10 14.91

Hence, log10 x = = 0.7823184

Thus, x = antilog 0.7823184 = 100.7823184 = 6.058, correct to 4 significant figures.

5. Solve 25.28 = 4.2x correct to 4 significant figures

If then

from which, x= = 2.251, correct to 4 significant figures.

6. Solve 42x-1 = 5x+2 correct to 4 significant figures

If then

i.e.

i.e.

i.e.

from which, x= = 3.959, correct to 4 significant figures.

7. Solve x-0.25 = 0.792 correct to 4 significant figures

If then

and

48
from which,

and x= = 2.542

8. Solve 0.027x = 3.26 correct to 4 significant figures

If then

from which, x= = - 0.3272, correct to 4 significant figures.

9. The decibel gain n of an amplifier is given by: where is the power input and

is the power output. Find the power gain when n = 25 decibels.

When n = 25 then: 25 =

from which, i.e. 2.5 =

Thus, i.e. power gain, = 316.2

10. A gas follows the polytropic law = C. Determine the new volume of the gas, given that

its original pressure and volume are 101 kPa and 0.42 , respectively, and its final pressure is

1.25 MPa.

If = C then

= 101 kPa, = 1.25 MPa and = 0.42

49
i.e.

from which, = 0.02708354

Taking logarithms of both sides of the equation gives:

i.e. from the third law of logarithms

and = - 1.24388458

from which, volume, = 0.057

EXERCISE 15 Page 31

1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (c) 8. (b) 9. (d) 10. (c) 11. (d) 12. (d) 13. (a)

14. (a) 15. (b)

50