Data Science Math Skills

Paul Bendich and Daniel Egger

Duke University

Fast Growth, Slow Growth: The Change of Base

Formula
Video companion

1 Introduction
Generally use base 10, base 2, and natural log (base e) in data science.

log2 (12) = 3.585 log2 (7) = 2.807

log10 (12) = 1.079 log10 (7) = 0.8451

23.585 = 12 22.807 = 7
101.079 = 12 100.8451 = 7

The change of base formula: Old base is x, new base is a,

logx (b)
loga (b) =
logx (a)

Examples
Want to convert log10 (12) to base a = 2:

log10 (12) 1.079

log2 (12) = = = 3.585
log10 (2) 0.30103

Want to convert log2 (7) to base a = 10:

log2 (7) 2.8073

log10 (7) = = = 0.8540
log2 (10) 3.3219