Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
For example, two numbers can be multiplied just by using a logarithm table and adding. These are often known as logarithmic properties, which are documented in the table below. [2] The first three operations below assume that x = b c and/or y = b d, so that log b (x) = c and log b (y) = d. Derivations also use the log definitions x = b log b (x ...
One of the simplest definitions is: The exponential function is the unique differentiable function that equals its derivative, and takes the value 1 for the value 0 of its variable. This "conceptual" definition requires a uniqueness proof and an existence proof, but it allows an easy derivation of the main properties of the exponential function.
The definition of e x as the exponential function allows defining b x for every positive real numbers b, in terms of exponential and logarithm function. Specifically, the fact that the natural logarithm ln(x) is the inverse of the exponential function e x means that one has = () =
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 exponential function can be extended to a function which gives a complex number as e z for any arbitrary complex number z; simply use the infinite series with x =z complex. This exponential function can be inverted to form a complex logarithm that exhibits most of the properties of the ordinary logarithm.
The number e is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828 that is the base of the natural logarithm and exponential function.It is sometimes called Euler's number, after the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, though this can invite confusion with Euler numbers, or with Euler's constant, a different constant typically denoted .
The logarithm of a complex number is thus a multi-valued function, because φ is multi-valued. Finally, the other exponential law =, which can be seen to hold for all integers k, together with Euler's formula, implies several trigonometric identities, as well as de Moivre's formula.
In mathematics, the exponential function can be characterized in many ways. This article presents some common characterizations, discusses why each makes sense, and proves that they are all equivalent. The exponential function occurs naturally in many branches of mathematics. Walter Rudin called it "the most important function in mathematics". [1]