Preface

This book delves into the topic of exponents and logarithms. These are
important functions in algebra, calculus, and beyond; a solid foundation in
this material will serve the reader in their mathematical training for years
to come. Of course, it is not enough to simply understand the basics of
exponents and logarithms and know how to solve rote exercises with them. A
deeper understanding of the intricacies of this subject, along with the ability
to solve difficult problems, is necessary. This work aims to give the reader this
understanding by providing both theory and a wealth of problems.
The first six chapters cover the theoretical background. Starting from the
basics, the reader will gain familiarity with the exponential and logarithmic
functions and learn how to solve di↵erent problems with them. Each chapter
comes with a variety of examples that illustrate the concepts and techniques
discussed. The latter portion of the book contains 114 carefully chosen prob-
lems (accompanied by solutions) to practice with. This gives the reader the
opportunity to test their understanding of the concepts from the preceding six
chapters and gain insight in solving problems with exponents and logarithms.
We believe that this challenge will be a great experience for any reader who
enjoys problem-solving.
We would like to thank Chris Jeuell, who revised the initial draft of this
manuscript, fixing many errors and improving the explanations. We also would
like to thank Navid Safei, who provided an abundance of great problems.
We hope you enjoy!

Titu Andreescu and Sean Elliott

Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
1 Basics of Exponents and Logarithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Algebraic Techniques in Exponent and Logarithm Problems . . 13
3 Equations and Systems of Equations Involving Exponents and
Logarithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4 Inequalities Involving Exponents and Logarithms . . . . . . . . 33
5 Exponents and Logarithms in Number Theory . . . . . . . . . 43
6 Exponents and Logarithms in Calculus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7 Introductory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8 Advanced Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
9 Solutions to Introductory Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
10 Solutions to Advanced Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Other Books from XYZ Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Basics of Exponents and Logarithms 1

1 Basics of Exponents and Logarithms

We begin with some basic properties of exponentiation. Recall that for
any positive integer n and real number a, we define

an = a
| · a{z· · · a} .
n times

For any positive integers p, q we can define

p p
a q = ( q a)p ,
p
provided q a is defined. We can extend this to negative exponents as follows:
p
if a q 6= 0, then
p 1
a q = p.
aq
We can even extend our definition to allow the exponent to be any real number.
Doing so rigorously requires calculus, but for our purposes, we will assume that
it can be done so in a way that preserves the properties below.

Now we can graph exponential functions of the form f (x) = ax , where a is

a positive real number di↵erent from 1 and x is any real number. When a > 1,
we have a graph that visually looks like the graph of f (x) = 2x on the left,
whereas when 0 < a < 1, we have a graph that visually looks like the graph
of f (x) = ( 12 )x on the right (particularly, in these cases the function will be
increasing or decreasing, respectively).

y
y 2x

( 12 )x

x
x
Properties of exponents. We recall the following properties of exponents.
If a, b are positive real numbers, then for all real numbers x and y, we have

1. a0 = 1
x 1
2. a = ax

3. ax · ay = ax+y
2 Basics of Exponents and Logarithms

ax
4. = ax y
ay
5. (ax )y = axy

6. (ab)x = ax bx
ax
7. ( ab )x = bx

We can now use our definition of the exponential function to define the
logarithm. If a 6= 1 and x are positive real numbers, then

y = loga x if and only if x = ay .

In other words, the logarithm function is the inverse of the exponential func-
tion. If the base of a logarithm is unspecified, it is assumed by convention to
be the base-10 logarithm.
The notation ln x refers to the logarithm with base e, where e ⇡ 2.718 . . .
is Euler’s number. We will see why this number is special in Chapter 6,
Exponents and Logarithms in Calculus.

Properties of logarithms. Let a 6= 1, x, and y be positive real numbers,

and let r be any real number. Then, from the properties of the exponential
function, a few basic properties of the logarithm function immediately follow.

1. loga 1 = 0

2. loga a = 1

3. aloga x = x

4. loga (xy) = loga x + loga y

5. loga ( xy ) = loga x loga y

6. loga xr = r loga x

Using these results, we can prove the so-called change of base formula, which
allows us to easily modify the base of any logarithm by multiplying by a
constant factor.

Theorem 1.1 (Change of base formula) For any positive real numbers a, b
di↵erent from 1 and any positive real number x, we have

logb x
loga x = .
logb a
Basics of Exponents and Logarithms 3

Proof. Take the base-b logarithm of both sides of the equation x = aloga x ,
obtaining
logb x = logb aloga x = (loga x) · (logb a),
which is equivalent to the desired result.

Remark. Setting x = b in the change of base formula gives the following useful
result. For any positive real numbers a, b with a 6= 1 and b 6= 1, we have
1
loga b = .
logb a

We can also analyze the graphs of the function f (x) = loga x. When a > 1,
the graph will visually look like the function f (x) = log2 x on the left, and
when 0 < a < 1, the graph will look like the function f (x) = log 1 x on the
2
right (particularly, in these cases the function will be increasing or decreasing,
respectively).
y y

log2 x
log 1 x
x 2
x

Example 1.1. Prove that if a and b are positive real numbers with a 6= 1,
and r is any nonzero real number, then loga b = logar br .
Solution. Let x = loga b. Then we only need to show that (ar )x = br . Indeed,

(ar )x = (ax )r = br ,

where the second equality follows from the definition of x.

Example 1.2. Let a, x, b be positive real numbers such that ax = x = b3 .
1
Express xx 3
in terms of a and b.
1 p
Solution. Note that a = x x and b = 3
x, so
1 1
⇣ 1 ⌘x b3 2
b
xx 3
= xb = xx = a b = ab .
4 Basics of Exponents and Logarithms

2
The answer is thus ab .
✓ ◆x
3
Example 1.3. If 6 · 5x 3x+1 = 3x + 5x+1 , find the value of .
5
Solution. Dividing both sides of the equation by 5x , we obtain
✓ ◆x ✓ ◆x
3 3
6 3· = + 5,
5 5
✓ ◆x
3 1
so = .
5 4
1 + 2x + 3x + 6x
Example 1.4. If = 82, find the value of x.
2x + 1
Solution. The numerator is equal to (1 + 2x )(1 + 3x ). Therefore, the equation
becomes 1 + 3x = 82, so x = 4.
Example 1.5. If a is a nonzero integer and b⇢is a positive real number such
1
that ab2 = log b, what is the median of the set 0, 1, a, b, ?
b
log b
Solution. Note that log b < b for all b > 0. If b > 1, then 0 < 2 < 1, so
b
log b
a = 2 cannot be an integer. Therefore 0 < b < 1, so log b < 0 and a < 0.
b
1
Thus a < 0 < b < 1 < , and the median is b.
b
Example 1.6. Simplify
1 1 1
+ +
loga abc logb abc logc abc
where a, b, c are positive real numbers.
1
Solution. By the change of base formula, = logabc a, and similarly
loga abc
for the other two terms. Therefore, the expression becomes

logabc a + logabc b + logabc c = logabc abc = 1.

Example 1.7. Compute

blog3 1c + blog3 2c + · · · + blog3 100c.

Solution. To simplify our calculation, we will group together the terms that
are equal. We do this by bounding the integers n 2 {1, 2, · · · , 100} between
consecutive powers of 3.
Basics of Exponents and Logarithms 5

First we have, for 1  n < 3, blog3 nc = 0. Similarly, for 3  n < 9,

blog3 nc = 1. For 9  n < 27, blog3 nc = 2. For 27  n < 81, blog3 nc = 3;
and for 81  n  100, blog3 nc = 4. So the sum is equal to

0 · (3 1) + 1 · (9 3) + 2 · (27 9) + 3 · (81 27) + 4 · (100 81 + 1) = 284.

Example 1.8. Evaluate the expression

3log5 7 7log5 3 .

Solution. Let log5 7 = x. Then 5x = 7 and

x
3log5 7 7log5 3 = 3x (5x )log5 3 = 3x 5x log5 3 = 3x 5log5 3 = 3x 3x = 0.

Therefore,
3log5 7 7log5 3 = 0.

1
Example 1.9. For an integer n > 1 let f (n) = . Find
logn (10!)

f (3!) + f (5!) + f (7!) + f (10!).

Solution. From the change of base formula,

1
f (n) = = log10! n.
logn (10!)
Thus,

f (3!) + f (5!) + f (7!) + f (10!) = log10! 3! + log10! 5! + log10! 7! + log10! 10!

= log10! (3! · 5! · 7!) + 1
= log10! (3 · 2 · 1 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 · 7!) + 1
= log10! ((5 · 2)(3 · 3)(4 · 2)7!) + 1
= log10! (10!) + 1 = 2.

Example 1.10. If 1 < a < b and 1 < c, show that

loga b > logac bc.

Solution. By the change of base formula, the left-hand side is equal to

log b
loga b = ,
log a
6 Basics of Exponents and Logarithms

while the right-hand side is equal to

log bc log b + log c

logac bc = = .
log ac log a + log c

Letting x = log a, y = log b, and z = log c, the desired inequality becomes

y y+z
> .
x x+z
From the given conditions on x, y, and z we know 0 < x < y and z > 0,
implying that
yx + yz > yx + xz,
which is equivalent to the desired inequality upon dividing by the positive
value x(x + z).
Example 1.11. Let f : R ! (1, 1) be defined by f (x) = e2x + ex + 1. Find
the inverse of f .
Solution. Suppose that
✓ ◆2
2x x x1 3
y=e +e +1= e + + .
2 4

Then ✓ ◆2 r
3 1 3 1
y = ex + )± y = ex + .
4 2 4 2
1
Since ex + is positive, we take the positive square root, obtaining
2
r
x 3 1
e = y .
4 2
Taking natural logarithms of both sides, we obtain
✓r ◆
1 3 1
x = f (y) = ln y .
4 2

Example 1.12. Trying to solve a problem, Jimmy used the following “for-
mula”:
logab x = (loga x)(logb x),
where a, b, x are positive real numbers di↵erent from 1. Prove that this is
correct only if x is a solution to the equation loga x + logb x = 1.
Basics of Exponents and Logarithms 7

Solution. Let u = logab x, v = loga x, and w = logb x. If u = vw, then we

know
x = (ab)u = au bu = avw bvw = (av )w (bw )v = xw xv = xv+w .
This implies that v + w = 1, or equivalently loga x + logb x = 1.
Example 1.13. Let c 6= 1 be a positive real number, and define the function
f : (1, 1) ! R by f (x) = logx c. For what values of c is f increasing?
log c
Solution. By the change of base formula, f (x) = . Recall that log x is
log x
1
increasing, so is decreasing. Hence, f is increasing if and only if log c < 0,
log x
or c < 1. By the same reasoning, if c > 1 then f is decreasing.
Example 1.14. Given are n positive real numbers x1 , x2 , . . . , xn such that

x1 = logxn 1
xn
x2 = logxn x1
..
.
xn = logxn 2
xn 1.

n
Y
Prove that xk = 1.
k=1

Solution. By the change of base formula,

log xk 1
xk = logxk xk 1 = ,
2
log xk 2

where x 1 and x0 refer to xn 1 and xn , respectively. Therefore,

n
Y n
Y Qn
log xk 1 log xk 1
xk = = Qk=1
n = 1.
log xk 2 k=1 log xk 2
k=1 k=1

Example 1.15. If a, b, c are positive real numbers di↵erent from 1 and

b c a
x = loga , y = logb , z = logc ,
c a b
show that xyz + x + y + z = 0.
Solution. Note that ✓ ◆yz
xyz x yz b
a = (a ) =
c
8 Basics of Exponents and Logarithms

by the definition of x. But using the definitions of y and z gives

✓ ◆yz ✓ ◆z ✓ ◆ y
b (by )z c a c z by
= z y = = .
c (c ) a b az+y

Using the definitions of x, y, z once more yields

a c c
c z by b · a b 1
z+y
= y+z
= y+z
= x+y+z .
a a a a

Therefore axyz+x+y+z = 1, so xyz + x + y + z = 0, since a 6= 1.

Example 1.16. Prove that (log24 48)2 + (log12 54)2 > 4.
Solution. To obtain a lower bound for the first term on the left-hand side,
we wish to find an inequality of the form 48a > 24b (as this would imply that
b
log24 48 > ). We can rewrite such an inequality as 2a > 24b a ; the simplest
a
such inequality is when b a = 1, in which case, we note that 25 = 32 > 241 ,
so
6
485 > 246 ) log24 48 > .
5
Similarly, for the second term, we need an inequality of the form 54a > 12b ,
or 33a b > 22b a . After some experimentation, we note that 37 and 211 are
reasonably close: 37 = 2187 > 2048 = 211 , so

8
545 > 128 ) log12 54 > .
5
Combining our two inequalities, we obtain

36 64
(log24 48)2 + (log12 54)2 > + = 4.
25 25

Example 1.17. Let n be an integer greater than 1. Show that

n
Y
logk (n k + 2) = 1.
k=2

Solution. Let the left-hand side be S. By the change of base formula,

n
Y n
Y
2 1
S = logk (n k + 2) .
logn k+2 k
k=2 k=2