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The use of log probabilities improves numerical stability, when the probabilities are very small, because of the way in which computers approximate real numbers. [1] Simplicity. Many probability distributions have an exponential form. Taking the log of these distributions eliminates the exponential function, unwrapping the exponent.
Conversely, if X is a lognormal (μ, σ 2) random variable then log X is a normal (μ, σ 2) random variable. If X is an exponential random variable with mean β, then X 1/γ is a Weibull (γ, β) random variable. The square of a standard normal random variable has a chi-squared distribution with one degree of freedom.
This relationship is true regardless of the base of the logarithmic or exponential function: If is normally distributed, then so is for any two positive numbers , . Likewise, if e Y {\displaystyle \ e^{Y}\ } is log-normally distributed, then so is a Y , {\displaystyle \ a^{Y}\ ,} where 0 < a ≠ 1 {\displaystyle 0<a\neq 1} .
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.
Exponential functions with bases 2 and 1/2. In mathematics, the exponential function is the unique real function which maps zero to one and has a derivative equal to its value. The exponential of a variable is denoted or , with the two notations used interchangeably.
The identities of logarithms can be used to approximate large numbers. Note that log b (a) + log b (c) = log b (ac), where a, b, and c are arbitrary constants. Suppose that one wants to approximate the 44th Mersenne prime, 2 32,582,657 −1. To get the base-10 logarithm, we would multiply 32,582,657 by log 10 (2), getting 9,808,357.09543 ...
The natural logarithm of a number is its logarithm to the base of the mathematical constant e, which is an irrational and transcendental number approximately equal to 2.718 281 828 459. [1] The natural logarithm of x is generally written as ln x, log e x, or sometimes, if the base e is implicit, simply log x.
Logarithmic growth is the inverse of exponential growth and is very slow. [2] A familiar example of logarithmic growth is a number, N, in positional notation, which grows as log b (N), where b is the base of the number system used, e.g. 10 for decimal arithmetic. [3] In more advanced mathematics, the partial sums of the harmonic series