Precalculus Examples

$\frac{1}{2} \log_{4} (x^{2} + 1) - 4 \log_{4} (\frac{1}{2}) - \frac{1}{2} (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1

Simplify each term.

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Step 1.1

Simplify $\frac{1}{2} \log_{4} (x^{2} + 1)$ by moving $\frac{1}{2}$ inside the logarithm.

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) - 4 \log_{4} (\frac{1}{2}) - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.2

Logarithm base $4$ of $\frac{1}{2}$ is $- \frac{1}{2}$ .

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) - 4 (- \frac{1}{2}) - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.3

Cancel the common factor of $2$ .

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Step 1.3.1

Move the leading negative in $- \frac{1}{2}$ into the numerator.

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) - 4 (\frac{- 1}{2}) - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.3.2

Factor $2$ out of $- 4$ .

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 (- 2) \frac{- 1}{2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.3.3

Cancel the common factor.

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 \cdot - 2 \frac{- 1}{2} - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.3.4

Rewrite the expression.

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) - 2 \cdot - 1 - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.4

Multiply $- 2$ by $- 1$ .

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 - \frac{1}{2} \cdot (\log_{4} (x - 4) - \log_{4} (x))$

Step 1.5

Use the quotient property of logarithms, $\log_{b} (x) - \log_{b} (y) = \log_{b} (\frac{x}{y})$ .

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 - \frac{1}{2} \cdot \log_{4} (\frac{x - 4}{x})$

Step 1.6

Multiply $- \frac{1}{2} \log_{4} (\frac{x - 4}{x})$ .

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Step 1.6.1

Reorder $\log_{4} (\frac{x - 4}{x})$ and $\frac{1}{2}$ .

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 - (\frac{1}{2} \log_{4} (\frac{x - 4}{x}))$

Step 1.6.2

Simplify $\frac{1}{2} \log_{4} (\frac{x - 4}{x})$ by moving $\frac{1}{2}$ inside the logarithm.

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 - \log_{4} ({(\frac{x - 4}{x})}^{\frac{1}{2}})$

Step 1.7

Apply the product rule to $\frac{x - 4}{x}$ .

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}) + 2 - \log_{4} (\frac{{(x - 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}{x^{\frac{1}{2}}})$

Step 2

Use the quotient property of logarithms, $\log_{b} (x) - \log_{b} (y) = \log_{b} (\frac{x}{y})$ .

$\log_{4} (\frac{{(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}{\frac{{(x - 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}{x^{\frac{1}{2}}}}) + 2$

Step 3

Simplify each term.

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Step 3.1

Multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator.

$\log_{4} ({(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}} \frac{x^{\frac{1}{2}}}{{(x - 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}) + 2$

Step 3.2

Combine ${(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}}$ and $\frac{x^{\frac{1}{2}}}{{(x - 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}$ .

$\log_{4} (\frac{{(x^{2} + 1)}^{\frac{1}{2}} x^{\frac{1}{2}}}{{(x - 4)}^{\frac{1}{2}}}) + 2$