Homework—Logs Name: ___________________________

log28 asks the question: “2 to what power is 8?” Based on that, you can answer the following
questions:

1. log28 =
2. log39 =
3. log1010 =
4. log10100 =
5. log101000 =
6. log101,000,000 =
7. Looking at your answers to problems 3-6, what does the log10 tell you about a number?

8. Multiple choice: which of the following is closest to log10500?

A) 1 B) 1½ C) 2 D) 2½ E) 3

9. log101 = 16. log9

1
=
9

10. log10 1 =
10 17. log93 =

1
11. log10 1 = 18. log9 =
100 81

12. log10(0.01) = 19. log9

1
=
3

13. log100 =
20. log5(54) =
14. log10(-1) =

15. log981 =

OK. When I say 36 = 6, that’s the same thing as saying 62 = 36. Why? Because 36 asks a question:
“What squared equals 36?” So the equation 36 = 6 is asking the question AND providing an answer:
“six squared equals 36.”
You can look at logs in a similar way. If I say log232 = 5 I’m asking a question: “2 to what power is 32?”
And I’m answering: “5; 2 to the fifth power is 32.” So saying log232 = 5 is the same thing as saying 25 =
32.
Based on this kind of reasoning, rewrite the following logarithm statements as exponent statements.

21. log28 = 3

22. log3(⅓) = -1

23. logx(1) = 0

24. logax = y

Now do the same thing backward: rewrite the following exponent statements as logarithm statements.

25. 43 = 64

26. 8–⅔ = ¼

27. ab = c
Finally...you don’t understand a function until you graph it...

28. a) Draw a graph of y = log2x. Plot at least 5 points to draw the graph.

b) What are the domain and range of the graph? What does that tell you about this function?

Some Answers
5. 3 15. 2 16. –1 17. ½ 25. ay = x 28. logac = b