Mathematics Ma Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Leonhard Euler, Multivalued Function, Big O Notation
Document Summary
In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse function to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a given number x is the exponent to which another fixed number, the base b, must be raised, to produce that number x. In the simplest case, the logarithm counts the number of occurrences of the same factor in repeated multiplication; e. g. since 1000 = 10 10 10 = 103, the "logarithm base 10" of 1000 is 3, or log10 (1000) = 3. The logarithm base 10 (that is b = 10) is called the decimal or common logarithm and is commonly used in science and engineering. The natural logarithm has the number e (that is b 2. 718) as its base; its use is widespread in mathematics and physics, because of its simpler integral and derivative. The binary logarithm uses base 2 (that is b = 2) and is frequently used in computer science.
