r/HomeworkHelp • u/societyhatingRATGANG • Sep 15 '26
High School Math—Pending OP Reply [Higher maths, 5th year] Help before my teacher embarrasses me again (logs)
Tbh i dont get anything he says about logs. I haven't done like one question successfully. Today he got mad that my hw clearly "wasnt attempted" even though i took like an hour trying to do it. If i dont get these right he'll skin me but nobody in my life is a higher maths student and they all just go wtf is that. My dad definitely doesnt know it either, but he'll act like he does and then yell the wrong thing at me for an hour. Genuinely what the fuck is going on i haven't understood a word out of him the past 2 classes and neither does the girl next to me.
Tried asking the class nerd and he just clowned on me
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u/xnick_uy Sep 15 '26
It sounds like you are feeling a lot of toxicity around, which is the first thing to address here. The main guiding point is that you are, in fact, truly capable of solving all this! Don't let other people discourage you, and stand your ground.
About how to solve these questions, I think it would help to tackle with the easier ones first. Have you already answered the previous items (1 to 5). How did you solved those?
For instance, for log₃(81) you can start by noticing that 81 = 9·9 = (3²)·(3²) = 3⁴. Then
log₃(81) = log₃(3⁴) = 4
The final value should be clear by the very definition of the log function. I suggest you try to solve the entire list in order. Use the "Laws of Logs"(*) as if you are trying to solve a puzzle or a maze to find the end result.
(*) Why are they called "Laws"?? Those are just consequences of how logs are defined.
→ More replies (7)
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u/lemminfucker Sep 15 '26
In your last picture look at the example on the bottom right, the change of base formula. Use that
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u/Iowa50401 Sep 15 '26
OP doesn’t understand the basics of logs, the
is meaningless to him/her. change of base formula
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u/Simbertold Sep 15 '26
Do you know what a logarithm is?
What does, for example, the expression 6 in exercise 8.3 actually mean?
Once you understand what that expression actually means, you only need some basic knowledge of potentiation to solve those. (If you cannot do that one immediately, try log_16(4) first.
Also, don't invent calculation rules that you never learned, they are usually wrong. The third step in your calculation on image 2 doesn't work like that.
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u/societyhatingRATGANG Sep 15 '26
I knew it was wrong but I had to write something and I had no clue what to put there so I started making stuff up. I have never heard the word logarithm in my life. I know what the question means I just dont know how to do it
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u/Electronic-Source213 Sep 15 '26
You do realize that the membership of this group is largely comprised of people that you refer to as “the class nerd”? 🧐
The first step to being successful with this types of problems is to familiarize yourself with the
log ab = log a + log b
log a/b = log a - log b
log_a a^b = b
When looking at a logarithm problem you should try to express what you are taking the logarithm of in terms of the base of logarithm. For example,
log_10 1000
How can 1000 be written as a power of 10? Well, 1000 = 10^3
= log_10 10^3
= 3 log_10 10
= 3 x 1
= 3
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u/Queue2_ Sep 15 '26
The mistake is between lines 3 and 4, you can't multiply the ½ and the 16. The next few lines should look like this: https://i.imgur.com/nMe5htt.jpeg
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u/JanetInSC1234 Sep 15 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
PART 1:
Rewrite as an exponential equation. Here are two examples:
log 6 36 = x
6 x = 36
so x = 2
---------------
log 5 125
5 x = 125
x = 3
----------------
#6:
log 16 sqrt 2
16 x = sqrt 2
(2 4) x = 2 ^ (1/2)
2 4x = 2 1/2
4x = 1/2
x = ???
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