OCR AS Mathematics: Exponentials and logarithms

Section 2: Natural logarithms and exponentials

Notes and Examples
These notes contain the following subsections:
Natural logarithms
Solving equations using natural logarithms and exponentials
Exponential functions as models
The derivative of the exponential function

Natural logarithms
You have already met logarithms in section 1. In this section you are looking at natural
logarithms, which are logarithms to base e, where e is a particular irrational number
(e = 2.71828…. to 5 decimal places). Working with natural logarithms is quite
straightforward: they obey exactly the same rules as all other logarithms, so you already
know quite a lot about them. Your calculator will be able to work out natural logarithms –
you should have a button marked “ln” (note that this starts with a L not an I; some people
get confused about this!)
You may be wondering (quite reasonably) what is so special about this number e, and why
logarithms to this particular base are so useful. In fact, this number has many very
interesting properties, some of which you will learn about later in A level Mathematics:
1
• Natural logarithms are related to the area under the curve y = . You will find out
x
more about later in A level Mathematics.
x
• One of the interesting characteristics of the exponential function e is that the
gradient of the graph of y = e is equal to the value of e at all points.
x x

• Many real-life situations, such as population growth and radioactive decay, can be
modelled using functions of the form y = ae . At the end of these notes you will see
kx

why this is the case.

• Later in A level Mathematics you will learn to form and solve simple differential
equations, which often involve modelling with exponential functions.
x
• If you study Further Maths ‘A’ level, you will find that the function e can be written
x 2 x3 x 4
as the infinite series 1 + x + + + + ... (try working out the sum of the first 10
2! 3! 4!
or so terms of this series for x = 1 on your calculator, and see how close you get to
the value of e).

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So e, like , is a special and useful number, and that this means that logarithms to base e
are also particularly useful.

Solving equations using natural logarithms and exponentials

Most of the work in this section involves the same techniques as you used in section 1. You
need to use the same rules of logarithms, applied to natural logarithms:
ln a + ln b = ln ab
a
ln a − ln b = ln  
b
ln a n = n ln a
Also remember that since log a a = 1 for any value of a, then

ln e = 1
This means that you can use natural logarithms to solve equations involving exponentials,
as in Example 1.

Example 1
1−3 x
Solve the equation e = 5.

Solution

Take natural logarithms of both sides

ln e1−3 x = ln 5
Using the laws of logarithms

(1 − 3x)ln e = ln5

Since ln e = 1

1 − 3x = ln 5
1 − ln 5
x= = −0.203 (3 s.f.)
3

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Similarly, the relationship between exponentials and logarithms

a = ln b  ea = b
allows you to solve equations involving natural logarithms.

Example 2
Solve the equation ln(2 x + 1) = 3 .

Solution

ln(2 x + 1) = 3  2 x + 1 = e3
e3 − 1
x= = 9.54 (3 s.f.)
2

In Examples 1 and 2 above, you are using the fact that the exponential function and the
natural logarithm function are inverses of one another, in the same way that squaring and
the square root function are inverses of one another. (You will learn more about functions
and their inverses later in A level Mathematics). In Example 1 you are “undoing” an
exponential function by using natural logarithms, and in Example 2 you are “undoing” a
natural logarithm by using an exponential.
The inverse nature of these two functions can be summed up as follows:

ln e x = x
eln x = x

Exponential functions as models

x x
An exponential function is any function of the form a . The function e is an example of an
exponential function, and is often called “the exponential function”.
Many real life situations can be modelled by exponential functions. In section 1 you saw
situations which can be modelled by functions like y = c  a (exponential growth) or
kt

y = c  a − kt (exponential decay). Often, functions are modelled using the exponential

− kt
function e , giving rise to models of the form y = ce or y = ce .
x kt

You can solve problems involving exponential growth and decay using logarithms.

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Example 3
−0.1t
The temperature T°C of a cup of coffee after t minutes is given by T = 20 + 60e .
(a) What is the initial temperature of the coffee?
(b) What is the temperature of the coffee after 5 minutes?
(c) After how long is the temperature of the coffee 25°C?
(d) What is the temperature of the room?

Solution
(a) When t = 0 , T = 20 + 60 = 80 .
The initial temperature of the coffee is 80°C.
−0.5
(b) When t = 5 , T = 20 + 60e = 56.4
The temperature after 5 minutes is 56.4°C.
−0.1t
(c) When T = 25 , 25 = 20 + 60e
5 = 60e−0.1t
e−0.1t = 121
Taking logarithms: −0.1t = ln 121
y = −10ln 121 = 10ln12 = 24.8 (3 s.f.)
It takes 24.8 minutes.
(d) As t becomes very large, the temperature approaches a limiting value of 20°C,
which is the temperature of the room.

It is important to remember that a model is never a perfect fit for reality. In particular, a
model may not be a good fit for very large values of t. For example, a simple model for the
size of a population of animals is N = ae , where a and b are constants. However, this
bt

model predicts that the population will continue to increase forever, and does not take into
account that as time goes on, there may not be enough food to sustain the population, and
that some of the animals will die. When thinking about whether a model is appropriate, you
must look at what the model predicts and compare it with reality.

The derivative of the exponential function

As mentioned earlier, one of the interesting characteristics of the function y = e is that its
x

gradient is equal to the value of the y-coordinate at every point on the graph.

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 dy
So y = e  = ex .
x

dx
If you replace x with kx , you are stretching the graph parallel to the x-axis with scale factor
1
. This has the effect of making the graph k times as steep.
k
dy
So y = e  = kekx .
kx

dx
This result allows you to find the rate of change of an exponential function.

This property of the exponential function helps to explain why y = e and related functions
x

are often useful for modelling real-life situations such as population growth or radioactive
decay. For example, the rate of growth of a population depends on the size of the
dP
population at that point, i.e. depends on the value of P. So to model the population,
dt
dP
is proportional to P, and the function P = ae satisfies
kt
you need a function for which
dt
this requirement.

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