Trigonometry Examples

$y = \log_{2} (16)$

Step 1

Rewrite as an equation.

$y = \log_{2} (16) = x$

Step 2

Rewrite $\log_{2} (16) = x$ in exponential form using the definition of a logarithm. If $x$ and $b$ are positive real numbers and $b$ does not equal $1$ , then $\log_{b} (x) = y$ is equivalent to $b^{y} = x$ .

$y = 2^{x} = 16$

Step 3

Create equivalent expressions in the equation that all have equal bases.

$y = 2^{x} = 2^{4}$

Step 4

Since the bases are the same, the two expressions are only equal if the exponents are also equal.

$y = x = 4$

Step 5

The variable $x$ is equal to $4$ .

$y = 4$