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| Question 1169433:  If log(x+3) - log(x+1) = 2, then x=
 Answer by Theo(13342)
      (Show Source): 
You can put this solution on YOUR website! start with: log(x+3) - log(x+1) = 2
 since log(x+3) - log(x+1) = log((x+3)/(x+1)), the equation becomes:
 log((x+3)/(x+1)) = 2
 this is true if and only if 10^2 = (x+3)/(x+1)
 multiply both sides of this equation by (x+1) to get:
 10^2 * (x+1) = x+3
 simplify to get:
 100 * x + 100 = x + 3
 subtract x from both sides of the equation and subtract 100 from both sides of the equation to get:
 100*x - x = 3 - 100
 combine like terms to get:
 99*x = -97
 solve for x to get:
 x = -97/99
 
 confirm by replacing x with -97/99 in the original equation to get:
 log(x+3) - log(x+1) = 2 becomes:
 log(-97/99 + 3) - log(-97/99 + 1) = 2
 do the math to get:
 2 = 2
 this confirms the value of x is good.
 
 your solution is that x = -97/99
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