Can i use exponential "e" to drop a "log"?

Question

I have a weird chemistry problem and i wanted to know if i could multiply the equation by e after i multiplied it by log.

Answer 1

nope, you use a 10. e is for natural log (ln)

Answer 2

Yes, but the wording of your question is slightly wrong.

You don't "multiply by log" you "take the log(arithm) of [the number]".

Similarly you don't "multiply the equation by e" you "raise e to the power of [the number]" (take the exponential as you put it).

So, just as you would write "x squared" as x^2, then "e to the power of x" can be written as e^x.

The log (specifically the natural log) of x is written as ln x. It is the number to which you must raise e to give the answer x.

That is to say, e^(ln x) = x. This is essentially the definition of the (natural) logarithm and it shows that the two operations are the inverse of each other.

So yes, to "drop" the logarithm in your equation, you can take the exponential.


To expand on the earlier answer about 10 instead of e, the natural logarithm (ln) uses base e (as above). The function often written simply as log is the logarithm to base 10. So 10^(log x)=x. All I have done is replaced e in the first version with 10.

For example log 100 = 2, because 100 = 10^2.

It is possible (although not often that useful) to take logarithms to any base. For example 64 = 4^3, so log (base 4) 16 = 3.

The base e version is called the natural logarithm because it is, mathematically, the most balanced. For example if you differentiate e^x with respect to x you get e^x again. If you do that to log x (base 10), you end up with a multiple of log x.

Answer 3

Can't say without seeing the problem.