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In mathematics, the logarithm to base b is the inverse function of exponentiation with base b. That means that the logarithm of a number x to the base b is the exponent to which b must be raised to produce x. For example, since 1000 = 10 3, the logarithm base of 1000 is 3, or log 10 (1000) = 3.
The natural logarithm of e itself, ln e, is 1, because e 1 = e, while the natural logarithm of 1 is 0, since e 0 = 1. The natural logarithm can be defined for any positive real number a as the area under the curve y = 1/x from 1 to a [4] (with the area being negative when 0 < a < 1). The simplicity of this definition, which is matched in many ...
The multiple valued version of log(z) is a set, but it is easier to write it without braces and using it in formulas follows obvious rules. log(z) is the set of complex numbers v which satisfy e v = z; arg(z) is the set of possible values of the arg function applied to z. When k is any integer:
He then called the logarithm, with this number as base, the natural logarithm. As noted by Howard Eves, "One of the anomalies in the history of mathematics is the fact that logarithms were discovered before exponents were in use." [16] Carl B. Boyer wrote, "Euler was among the first to treat logarithms as exponents, in the manner now so ...
In 1815, Peter Mark Roget invented the log log slide rule, which included a scale displaying the logarithm of the logarithm. This allowed the user to directly perform calculations involving roots and exponents.
A graph of the common logarithm of numbers from 0.1 to 100. In mathematics, the common logarithm is the logarithm with base 10. [1] It is also known as the decadic logarithm and as the decimal logarithm, named after its base, or Briggsian logarithm, after Henry Briggs, an English mathematician who pioneered its use, as well as standard logarithm.
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Analogously, in any group G, powers b k can be defined for all integers k, and the discrete logarithm log b a is an integer k such that b k = a. In number theory , the more commonly used term is index : we can write x = ind r a (mod m ) (read "the index of a to the base r modulo m ") for r x ≡ a (mod m ) if r is a primitive root of m and gcd ...