Transcript Slide 1
7 INVERSE FUNCTIONS INVERSE FUNCTIONS 7.3 Logarithmic Functions In this section, we will learn about: Logarithmic functions and natural logarithms. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS If a > 0 and a ≠ 1, the exponential function f(x) = ax is either increasing or decreasing, so it is one-to-one. Thus, it has an inverse function f -1, which is called the logarithmic function with base a and is denoted by loga. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS Definition 1 If we use the formulation of an inverse function given by (7.1.3), 1 f ( x) y f ( y) x then we have: loga x y a x y LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS Thus, if x > 0, then logax is the exponent to which the base a must be raised to give x. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS Evaluate: (a) log381 (b) log255 (c) log100.001 Example 1 LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS Example 1 (a) log381 = 4 since 34 = 81 (b) log255 = ½ since 251/2 = 5 (c) log100.001 = -3 since 10-3 = 0.001 LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS Definition 2 The cancellation equations (Equations 4 in Section 7.1), when applied to the functions f(x) = ax and f -1(x) = logax, become: log a (a ) x x a log a x x for every x for every x0 LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS The logarithmic function loga has domain (0, ) and range . It is continuous since it is the inverse of a continuous function, namely, the exponential function. Its graph is the reflection of the graph of y = ax about the line y = x. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS The figure shows the case where a > 1. The most important logarithmic functions have base a > 1. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS The fact that y = ax is a very rapidly increasing function for x > 0 is reflected in the fact that y = logax is a very slowly increasing function for x > 1. LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS The figure shows the graphs of y = logax with various values of the base a > 1. Since loga1 = 0, the graphs of all logarithmic functions pass through the point (1, 0). LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS The following theorem summarizes the properties of logarithmic functions. PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS Theorem 3 If a > 1, the function f(x) = logax is a one-to-one, continuous, increasing function with domain (0, ∞) and range If x, y > 0 and r is any real number, then 1. log a ( xy ) log a x log a y x 2. log a log a x log a y y 3. log a ( x r ) r log a x . PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS Properties 1, 2, and 3 follow from the corresponding properties of exponential functions given in Section 7.2 PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS Example 2 Use the properties of logarithms in Theorem 3 to evaluate: (a) log42 + log432 (b) log280 - log25 PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS Example 2 a Using Property 1 in Theorem 3, we have: log 4 2 log 4 32 log 4 2 32 log 4 64 3 This is because 43 = 64. PROPERTIES OF LOGARITHMS Example 2 b Using Property 2, we have: 80 log 2 80 log 2 5 log 2 5 log 2 16 4 This is because 24 = 16. LIMITS OF LOGARITHMS The limits of exponential functions given in Section 7.2 are reflected in the following limits of logarithmic functions. Compare these with this earlier figure. LIMITS OF LOGARITHMS Equation 4 If a > 1, then lim loga x and lim loga x x x 0 In particular, the y-axis is a vertical asymptote of the curve y = logax. LIMITS OF LOGARITHMS Example 3 Find lim log10 tan x . 2 x 0 As x → 0, we know that t = tan2x → tan20 = 0 and the values of t are positive. Hence, by Equation 4 with a = 10 > 1, we have: 2 lim log10 tan x lim log10 t x 0 t 0 NATURAL LOGARITHMS Of all possible bases a for logarithms, we will see in Chapter 3 that the most convenient choice of a base is the number e, which was defined in Section 7.2. NATURAL LOGARITHMS The logarithm with base e is called the natural logarithm and has a special notation: loge x ln x NATURAL LOGARITHMS Definitions 5 and 6 If we put a = e and replace loge with ‘ln’ in (1) and (2), then the defining properties of the natural logarithm function become: ln x y e x y ln(e ) x x ° x e ln x x x0 NATURAL LOGARITHMS In particular, if we set x = 1, we get: ln e 1 NATURAL LOGARITHMS Find x if ln x = 5. From (5), we see that ln x = 5 means e5 = x Therefore, x = e5. E. g. 4—Solution 1 NATURAL LOGARITHMS E. g. 4—Solution 1 If you have trouble working with the ‘ln’ notation, just replace it by loge. Then, the equation becomes loge x = 5. So, by the definition of logarithm, e5 = x. NATURAL LOGARITHMS E. g. 4—Solution 2 Start with the equation ln x = 5. Then, apply the exponential function to both sides of the equation: eln x = e5 However, the second cancellation equation in Equation 6 states that eln x = x. Therefore, x = e5. NATURAL LOGARITHMS Example 5 Solve the equation e5 - 3x = 10. We take natural logarithms of both sides of the equation and use Definition 9: 5 3 x ln(e ) ln10 5 3x ln10 3x 5 ln10 1 x (5 ln10) 3 As the natural logarithm is found on scientific calculators, we can approximate the solution— to four decimal places: x ≈ 0.8991 NATURAL LOGARITHMS Example 6 Express ln a 12 ln b as a single logarithm. Using Properties 3 and 1 of logarithms, we have: ln a 12 ln b ln a ln b1/ 2 ln a ln b ln(a b ) NATURAL LOGARITHMS The following formula shows that logarithms with any base can be expressed in terms of the natural logarithm. CHANGE OF BASE FORMULA Formula 7 For any positive number a (a ≠ 1), we have: ln x log a x ln a CHANGE OF BASE FORMULA Proof Let y = logax. Then, from (1), we have ay = x. Taking natural logarithms of both sides of this equation, we get y ln a = ln x. Therefore, y ln x ln a NATURAL LOGARITHMS Scientific calculators have a key for natural logarithms. So, Formula 7 enables us to use a calculator to compute a logarithm with any base—as shown in the following example. Similarly, Formula 7 allows us to graph any logarithmic function on a graphing calculator or computer. NATURAL LOGARITHMS Example 7 Evaluate log8 5 correct to six decimal places. ln 5 0.773976 Formula 7 gives: log8 5 ln 8 NATURAL LOGARITHMS The graphs of the exponential function y = ex and its inverse function, the natural logarithm function, are shown. As the curve y = ex crosses the y-axis with a slope of 1, it follows that the reflected curve y = ln x crosses the x-axis with a slope of 1. NATURAL LOGARITHMS In common with all other logarithmic functions with base greater than 1, the natural logarithm is a continuous, increasing function defined on (0, ) and the y-axis is a vertical asymptote. NATURAL LOGARITHMS Equation 8 If we put a = e in Equation 4, then we have these limits: lim ln x x lim ln x x 0 NATURAL LOGARITHMS Example 8 Sketch the graph of the function y = ln(x - 2) -1. We start with the graph of y = ln x. NATURAL LOGARITHMS Example 8 Using the transformations of Section 1.3, we shift it 2 units to the right—to get the graph of y = ln(x - 2). NATURAL LOGARITHMS Example 8 Then, we shift it 1 unit downward—to get the graph of y = ln(x - 2) -1. Notice that the line x = 2 is a vertical asymptote since: lim ln x 2 1 x 2 NATURAL LOGARITHMS We have seen that ln x → ∞ as x → ∞. However, this happens very slowly. In fact, ln x grows more slowly than any positive power of x. NATURAL LOGARITHMS To illustrate this fact, we compare approximate values of the functions y = ln x and y = x½ = x in the table. NATURAL LOGARITHMS We graph the functions here. Initially, the graphs grow at comparable rates. Eventually, though, the root function far surpasses the logarithm. NATURAL LOGARITHMS In fact, we will be able to show in Section 7.8 that: ln x lim p 0 x x for any positive power p. So, for large x, the values of ln x are very small compared with xp.