EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM

FUNCTION
MATH 161
M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
0

▶ EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

▶ LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

▶ EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 1/27

 Learning Outcomes
0

At the end of this session, students are expected to be able to:

1. know what exponential and logarithmic functions are.

2. know the link between exponential and logarithmic functions.

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 2/27

 Table of Contents
1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

▶ EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

▶ LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

▶ EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 3/27

 DEFINITIONS
1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

Definition
An exponential function is a function in the form:

f (x) = bx

Where b > 0 and b ̸= 1

EXAMPLE
1 x
2x


Sketch the graph of f (x) = and g (x) = 2 .

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 4/27

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1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

Solution Let’s first get a table of values for these two functions.

x f (x) g(x)

−2
−2 f (−2) = 2−2 = 41 g(−2) = 12 =4
1 −1
−1 f (−1) = 2−1 = 21


g(−1) = 2 =2
1 0
f (0) = 20 = 1


0 g(0) = 2 = 1
1 f (1) = 2 g(1) = 12
2 f (2) = 4 g(2) = 14

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 5/27

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1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 6/27

 PROPERTIES
1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

Properties of f (x) = bx
1. f (0) = 1. The function will always take the value of 1 at x = 0.
2. f (x) ̸= 0. An exponential function will never be zero.
3. f (x) > 0. An exponential function is always positive.
4. The previous two properties can be summarized by saying that the range of an
exponential function is (0, ∞).
5. The domain of an exponential function is (−∞, ∞). In other words, you can plug
every x into an exponential function.

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 7/27

 PROPERTIES
1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

6. If 0 < b < 1 then,

6.1 f (x) → 0 as x → ∞
6.2 f (x) → ∞ as x → −∞

7. If b > 1 then,
7.1 f (x) → ∞ as x → ∞
7.2 f (x) → 0 as x → −∞

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 8/27

 DEFINITION
1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

Definition
The natural exponential function is f (x) = ex where, e = 2.71828182845905 . . .
Since e > 1 we also know that ex → ∞ as x → ∞ and ex → 0 as x → −∞

Example
1− 2t
Sketch the graph of h(t) = 1 − 5e

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 9/27

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1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

Solution

t −2 −1 0 1 2 3
h(t) −35.9453 −21.4084 −12.5914 −7.2436 −4 −2.0327

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 10/27

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1 EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

Here is the sketch

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 11/27

 Table of Contents
2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

▶ EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

▶ LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

▶ EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 12/27

 DEFINITIONS
2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Definition
We’ll start with b > 0, b̸= 1 Then we have

y = logb x is equivalent to x = by

The first is called logarithmic form and the second is called the exponential form.
Remembering this equivalence is the key to evaluate logarithms. The number b is called
the base

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 13/27

 EXAMPLE
2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Example
1. log2 16
2. log4 16

Solution
1. log2 16 = 4 because 24 = 16
2. log4 16 = 2 because 42 = 16

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 14/27

 TRIAL
2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Trial
1. log 1 36
6
27
2. log 3 8
2

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 15/27

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2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Properties
1. The domain of the logarithm function is (0, ∞)
2. The range of the logarithm function function is (−∞, ∞)
3. logb (b) = 1
4. logb (1) = 0

5. logb (bx ) = x
6. blogb (x) = x

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 16/27

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2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Properties
1. logb (xy) = logb (x) + logb (y)
 
2. logb yx = logb (x) − logb (y)
3. logb (xr ) = r logb (x)

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 17/27

 EXAMPLE
2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Example
Write the following in terms of simpler logarithms
1. ln x3 y4 z5

Solution
1.
ln x3 y4 z5 = ln(x3 ) + ln(y4 ) + ln(z5 )

= 3 ln(x) + 4 ln(y) + 5 ln(z)

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 18/27

 TRIAL
2 LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Write each of the following in terms of simpler logarithms:

 4
1. log3 9x√
y
!
x2 + y2
2. log
(x − y)3

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 19/27

 Table of Contents
3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

▶ EXPONENTIAL FUNCTION

▶ LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

▶ EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 20/27

 EXAMPLE
3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Example
Solve 4e1+3x − 9e5−2x =0
Solution

4e1+3x = 9e5−2x

e1+3x 9
=
e5−2x 4
9
e1+3x−(5−2x) =
4

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 21/27

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3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Solution

9
e5x−4 =
4
9
e5x−4 =
4
 
9
5x − 4 = ln
4
 
9
5x = 4 + ln
4

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 22/27

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3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

  
1 9
x= 4 + ln = 0.9621860432
5 4

This equation has a single solution of x = 0.9622

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 23/27

 Exercise
3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Exercise
Solve:
1. 7 + 15e1−3z = 10 Ans: z = 0.8698126372

2. 102−t = 100 Ans: t = 0

3. x − xe5x+2 = 0 Ans: x = 0 and x = − 25

4. log x + log (x − 3) = 1 Ans: x = 5

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 24/27

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3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

Exercise
Solve:
x


1. 3 + 2 ln 7 + 3 = −4 Ans: x = −20.78861832

√

2. 2 ln x − ln (1 − x) = 2 Ans: x = 0.8807970780

3. log x + log (x − 3) = 1 Ans: x = 5

4. ln (x − 2) + ln (x + 1) = 2 Ans: x = 3.6047

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 25/27

 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM
FUNCTION
Thank you for listening!
Any questions?

M. A. BOATENG (Ph.D., MIMA) EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTION 26/27

 End of Lesson
3 EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHM FUNCTIONS

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