Introduction to Logarithms: Explanation

To calculate log_b(a), we use formulas like the following :

, where .

As with the formulas for exponentials, these are infinite sums, so we can never get the exact answer, but they do "equal" the correct values "in the limit".  By focusing on their inverse relationship to exponentials, we will be able to avoid using these difficult formulas entirely.

Go back to Powers and Exponential Functions

Table of Contents

Send questions or comments to jwicks@northpark.edu

Glossary