Laws (Properties) of

Logarithms

Section 3.3
 Objectives
• Rewrite (expand) a logarithm to contain
no logarithms of products, quotients, or
powers.
• Rewrite (condense) a logarithmic
expression into the logarithm of a single
value.
• Use the change of base formula to
rewrite a logarithm as a common
logarithm or a natural logarithm.
 Vocabulary

• product rule: multiplication becomes

addition
• quotient rule: division becomes
subtraction
• power rule: exponent becomes multiplier
 Laws of Logarithms
• product rule - multiplication becomes addition
loga (xy )  loga x  loga y

• quotient rule - division becomes subtraction

x 
loga    loga x  loga y

y 
• power rule - exponent becomes multiplier

loga (x ) y  y loga x
Change of Base Formula
logc b
loga b 
logc a
Use the Laws of Logarithms to
rewrite the expression in a form with
no logarithm of a product, quotient or
power.

log3 x  y
8 3 5

Use the Laws of Logarithms to
rewrite the expression in a form with
no logarithm of a product, quotient or
power.
x 6  x 1 
ln 

 3 x  5 
Rewrite the expression as a single
logarithm.
3log x  5logx  1  5logx  1
2
Rewrite the expression as a single
logarithm.
lna  b   lna  b   4lnc
Evaluate the expression
without using the Change of
Base Formula.
log9 13122  log9 2
Evaluate the expression using the
Change of Base Formula

log4 59