The logarithm function is the inverse of exponentiation, just as division is the inverse of multiplication. For example, , which we read as "the logarithm base 10 of 100", is 2, because 100 is 10 raised to the second power. We can have logarithms of any base: for example because , because , and so forth. We can even have non-integer bases; in fact the most commonly used logarithm in mathematics is the "natural log", which has as its base. (It is so common that instead of it gets its own symbol, .) Some potential calculator configurations. The ones on the left will give you log-base-10, while the ones on the right will give you the natural log.
In this book we will be most interested in the log-base-10, because it plays well with scientific notation. For instance, since , then must be a little bigger than 4: in fact it is 4.3. In the old days, mathematicians had books of tables giving the logarithm for various numbers. Today, of course, we have calculators and computers. Your calculator probably has two log buttons on it, one for and one for the natural log . Sometimes one of the buttons will simply be labelled "log", and you'll need to deduce which one it is by looking for the other one. If you're ever not sure, try calculating "log 10". If it returns "1", then that's log-base-10.
Because logarithms are exponents, they have a couple of interesting properties. First (for any base), the log of a product is equal to the sum of the logs: For instance, , which is good because . If you have a number in scientific notation, like , then Since the mantissa 4.5 is between 1 and 10, its log-base-10 will be somewhere between 0 and 1, and so is going to be somewhere between -4 and -3. In this case, , so $\log_{10}4.5\ten{-4} = 0.653-4 = -3.35.
Another property that logs have is One example is .
