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rule 1

Wednesday’s Why MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaacbeqcLbCaqa aaaaaaaaWdbiaa=nbiaaa@3804@ Episode 6

In this week’s episode of Wednesday’s Why we will tackle why the following is “law” of exponents is true in a way that hopefully will promote mathematical fluency and confidence. It is my hope that through these Wednesday’s Why episodes that you are empowered to seek deeper understanding by seeing that math is a written language and that by substituting equivalent expressions we can manipulate things to find truths.

 

log 2 ( MN )= log 2 M+ log 2 N MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaciiBaiaac+ gacaGGNbWaaSbaaSqaaiaaikdaaeqaaOWaaeWaaeaaqqa6daaaaaGu LrgapeGaamyta8aacqGHflY1qqaaaaaaOpGqSvxza8GacaWGobaapa GaayjkaiaawMcaaiabg2da9iGacYgacaGGVbGaai4zamaaBaaaleaa caaIYaaabeaak8qacaWGnbWdaiabgUcaRiGacYgacaGGVbGaai4zam aaBaaaleaacaaIYaaabeaak8GacaWGobaaaa@4F52@

Now of course the base of 2 is arbitrary, but we will use a base of two to explore this.

The first thing to be aware of is that exponents and logarithms deal with the same issue of repeated multiplication. There connection between the properties of each are tightly related. What we will see here is that the property of logarithms above and this property of exponents below are both at play here. But it is not so easy to see, so let’s do a little exploration.

a m × a n = a m+n   MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamyyamaaCa aaleqabaGaamyBaaaakiabgEna0kaadggadaahaaWcbeqaaiaad6ga aaGccqGH9aqpcaWGHbWaaWbaaSqabeaacaWGTbGaey4kaSIaamOBaa aakiaabccaaaa@41BA@

Just to be sure of how exponents and logarithms are written with the same meaning, consider the following.

a b =c log a c=b MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamyyamaaCa aaleqabaGaamOyaaaakiabg2da9iaadogacqGHugYQciGGSbGaai4B aiaacEgadaWgaaWcbaGaamyyaaqabaGccaWGJbGaeyypa0JaamOyaa aa@4296@

Let us begin with statement 1: 2 A =M MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaGOmamaaCa aaleqabaGaamyqaaaakiabg2da9iaad2eaaaa@3988@

We can rewrite this as a logarithm, statement 1.1: log 2 M=A MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaciiBaiaac+ gacaGGNbWaaSbaaSqaaiaaikdaaeqaaOGaamytaiabg2da9iaadgea aaa@3C57@


Statement 2:
2 B =N MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaaGOmamaaCa aaleqabaGaamOqaaaakiabg2da9iaad6eaaaa@398A@

We can rewrite this as a logarithm, statement 2.1: log 2 N=B MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaciiBaiaac+ gacaGGNbWaaSbaaSqaaiaaikdaaeqaaOGaamOtaiabg2da9iaadkea aaa@3C59@


If we take the product of M and N, we would get
2A ·2B. Since exponents are repeated multiplication,

2A ·2B = 2A + B

This gives us statement 3: MN= 2 A+B MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamytaiabgw Sixlaad6eacqGH9aqpcaaIYaWaaWbaaSqabeaacaWGbbGaey4kaSIa amOqaaaaaaa@3E44@

Let us rewrite statement 3 as a logarithmic equation.

MN= 2 A+B log 2 ( MN )=A+B MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaGaamytaiabgw Sixlaad6eacqGH9aqpcaaIYaWaaWbaaSqabeaacaWGbbGaey4kaSIa amOqaaaakiabgkziUkGacYgacaGGVbGaai4zamaaBaaaleaacaaIYa aabeaakmaabmaabaGaamytaiabgwSixlaad6eaaiaawIcacaGLPaaa cqGH9aqpcaWGbbGaey4kaSIaamOqaaaa@4CEA@

In statements 1.1 and 2.1 we see what A and B equal. So let’s substitute those now.

log 2 ( MN )=A+B log 2 ( MN )= log 2 M+ log 2 N MathType@MTEF@5@5@+= feaagKart1ev2aqatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr 4rNCHbGeaGqiVu0Je9sqqrpepC0xbbL8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq=Jc9 vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0=yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr=x fr=xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGceaqabeaaciGGSb Gaai4BaiaacEgadaWgaaWcbaGaaGOmaaqabaGcdaqadaqaaiaad2ea cqGHflY1caWGobaacaGLOaGaayzkaaGaeyypa0JaamyqaiabgUcaRi aadkeaaeaaciGGSbGaai4BaiaacEgadaWgaaWcbaGaaGOmaaqabaGc daqadaqaaiaad2eacqGHflY1caWGobaacaGLOaGaayzkaaGaeyypa0 JaciiBaiaac+gacaGGNbWaaSbaaSqaaiaaikdaaeqaaOGaamytaiab gUcaRiGacYgacaGGVbGaai4zamaaBaaaleaacaaIYaaabeaakiaad6 eaaaaa@56F8@

It took a little algebraic-juggling to get it done, but hopefully you can now see that this is not a law or a rule, but a property of repeated multiplication, just like all of the properties of exponents are consequences of repeated multiplication.

Let me know what worked for you here and what did not. Leave me a comment.

Thank you again.