Exponents and Logarithms

Euclid Club 2022

March 2022

1 Introduction
To start, we’ll just briefly talk about what a logarithm is:
A logarithm (written as logx y, where x is the base, and y is the argument),
is the number such that xlogx y = y. That is, if xz = y, then logx y = z. The
logarithm is only defined for positive x and y, with x being non-one.

We’ll start with some basic log and exponent rules:

Rule 1.1 ax ay = ax+y .

Rule 1.2 (ax )y = axy .

1
Rule 1.3 a−x = .
ax
Rule 1.4 log xy = log x + log y.
x
Rule 1.5 log = log x − log y.
y
Rule 1.6 log xn = n log x.

Rule 1.7 logx xn = n.

y
Rule 1.8 logax by = loga b.
x
Rule 1.9 xlogx n = n

In general, whenever we have logs, we want to get rid of them. Consider the
following question:

Problem 1.9 Determine all pairs (a, b) of real numbers that satisfy the fol-
lowing systems of equations:
√ √
a+ b=8
(1)
log10 a + log10 b = 2

1
First off, we’d like to get rid of logs if we can. Looking at the second equation,
we get log10 ab = 2, so ab = 100. This looks much simpler and nicer than the
logs we previously had.
√
Now, to solve this problem, we can square the first equation to get a+b+2 ab =
64. Subbing in ab = 100, we have a + b = 44.

From here, either by doing some substitutions or using Vieta’s, we can see
a, b are the solutions of x2 − 44x + 100. Thus, a and b are the solutions to
that √
44 ± 442 − 400
.
2

2 Logs with different bases

Logs are all fine until you get some logs with different bases. Once you get
logs with different bases, it’s generally very hard to simplify or do anything to
them in general. Thankfully, people don’t often try to make problems unsolv-
able. Whenever you see logs with different bases (which are not powers of each
other), you will often see one of the following log rules:
loga b
Rule 2.1 = logc b.
loga c
Rule 2.2 loga b logb c = loga c.
1
Rule 2.3 loga b = .
logb a
Let’s practice some of the “special” rules above.

Problem 2.4 Determine all real values of x for such that

log5x+9 (x2 + 6x + 9) + logx+3 (5x2 + 24x + 27) = 4

Our first step is to try and make the equation nicer. As it is, we can’t do
anything with it. Factoring the arguments, we get

log5x+9 (x + 3)2 + logx+3 ((5x + 9)(x + 3)) = 4

2 log5x+9 (x + 3) + logx+3 (5x + 9) + 1 = 4 (2)
2 log5x+9 (x + 3) + logx+3 (5x + 9) = 3.

Aha! Since log5x+9 (x + 3) and logx+3 (5x + 9) are reciprocals, let a = log5x+9 (x + 3).
This makes it easier for us to look at and understand what’s going on. You don’t
have to make this substitution in your proofs if you’re comfortable.
1
We now have 2a + = 3, so 2a2 − 3a + 1 = (2a − 1)(a − 1) = 0. So, we ei-
a
1
ther have a = 1 or a = .
2

2
 3
If a = 1, then we have log5x+9 (x + 3) = 1, so 5x + 9 = x + 3. Thus x = − is
2
a solution.
1 1
If a = , then we have log5x+9 (x + 3) = , so then
2 2
5x + 9 = (x + 3)2
5x + 9 = x2 + 6x + 9
(3)
0 = x2 + x
0 = x(x + 1)

1
Thus, x = 0, −1 are also solutions. So, all solutions are x = −1, 0, . ∎
2

3 Substitution
On the path to the solution, we often try to get relationships between the vari-
ables, and see what we get from there. However, sometimes it’s not optimal to
do so; for example, if we have (log x)2 − 2 log x + 1 = 0, we would solve for log x
first, then use that to solve for x. It’s hard to describe this idea without an
example.

Problem 3.1 Determine all real solutions to the systems of equations

x + log10 x = y − 1
y + log10 (y − 1) = z − 1 (4)
z + log10 (z − 2) = x + 2

When looking to work with a system of equations, it’s generally a good idea
to work around the most complicated part of the equation. In this example it
would be the logarithms. So, let’s rearrange the equations to get

x + log10 x = (y − 1)
(y − 1) + log10 (y − 1) = (z − 2) (5)
(z − 2) + log10 (z − 2) = x

Looking at our 3 equations, it looks like we’re doing some sort of cycle;
indeed, if we let f (x) = x + log10 x, we can see that we have f (f (f (x))) = x.
Notice that for x > 1, f (x) > x, and for x < 1, f (x) < x. Thus, x must be 1.
Also, by symmetry, y = 2 and z = 3. Thus, (x, y, z) = (1, 2, 3).

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4 Review Problems
4.1
Determine all points (x, y), where the two curves y = log10 (x4 ) and y = (log10 x)3
intersect.

4.2
Determine all real numbers x for which 2 log2 (x − 1) = 1 − log2 (x + 2)

4.3
Determine all real values of x for which 3(x−1) 9 2x2 = 27
3

4.4
Compute the number of ordered pairs (a, b), with 2 ≤ a, b ≤ 2020, that satisfy
the equation

alogb (a )
= bloga (ba )
−4 −3

4.5
Determine all pairs of angles (x, y) with 0 ≤ x ≤ 180 and 0 ≤ y ≤ 180 that satisfy
the following system of equations:

3
log2 (sin x cos y) = −
2
sin x 1
log2 ( )=
cos y 2

4.6
√ √
Determine all real values of x such that log2x (48 3 3) = log3x (162 3 2)

4.7
Determine all real numbers x > 0 for which

7
log4 x − logx 16 = − logx 8
6

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5 Challenge Problems
5.1
Consider the following system of equations in which all logarithms have base
10:
(log x)(log y) − 3 log 5y − log 8x = a

(log y)(log z) − 4 log 5y − log 16z = b

(log z)(log x) − 4 log 8x − 3 log 625z = c

(a) If a = −4, b = 4, and c = −18, solve the system of equations.

(b) Determine all triples (a, b, c) of real numbers for which the system of
equations has an infinite number of solutions (x, y, z).

5.2
How many ordered pairs (a,b) such that a is a positive real number, and b
is an integer between 2 and 200 inclusive, satisfy the equation (logb a)2017 =
logb (a2017 )

5.3
Find all values of k such that
log10 (k − 2)! + log10 (k − 1)! + 2 = 2log10 (k!)