Precalculus Examples

$\log (x^{2} - 3 x) = 1$

Step 1

Rewrite $\log (x^{2} - 3 x) = 1$ in exponential form using the definition of a logarithm. If $x$ and $b$ are positive real numbers and $b \neq 1$ , then $\log_{b} (x) = y$ is equivalent to $b^{y} = x$ .

$10^{1} = x^{2} - 3 x$

Step 2

Solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.1

Rewrite the equation as $x^{2} - 3 x = 10^{1}$ .

$x^{2} - 3 x = 10$

Step 2.2

Subtract $10$ from both sides of the equation.

$x^{2} - 3 x - 10 = 0$

Step 2.3

Factor $x^{2} - 3 x - 10$ using the AC method.

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Step 2.3.1

Consider the form $x^{2} + b x + c$ . Find a pair of integers whose product is $c$ and whose sum is $b$ . In this case, whose product is $- 10$ and whose sum is $- 3$ .

$- 5, 2$

Step 2.3.2

Write the factored form using these integers.

$(x - 5) (x + 2) = 0$

Step 2.4

If any individual factor on the left side of the equation is equal to $0$ , the entire expression will be equal to $0$ .

$x - 5 = 0$

$x + 2 = 0$

Step 2.5

Set $x - 5$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.5.1

Set $x - 5$ equal to $0$ .

$x - 5 = 0$

Step 2.5.2

Add $5$ to both sides of the equation.

$x = 5$

Step 2.6

Set $x + 2$ equal to $0$ and solve for $x$ .

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Step 2.6.1

Set $x + 2$ equal to $0$ .

$x + 2 = 0$

Step 2.6.2

Subtract $2$ from both sides of the equation.

$x = - 2$

Step 2.7

The final solution is all the values that make $(x - 5) (x + 2) = 0$ true.

$x = 5, - 2$