SOLUTION: Please help me solve this equation: expand log base5 of 8square root y/m

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Question 405048: Please help me solve this equation: expand log base5 of 8square root y/m
Answer by jsmallt9(3758) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
log%285%2C+%288sqrt%28y%2Fm%29%29%29
There are three properties of logarithms that are used in these "expansion" problems:
  • log%28a%2C+%28p%2Aq%29%29+=+log%28a%2C+%28p%29%29+%2B+log%28a%2C+%28q%29%29
  • log%28a%2C+%28p%2Fq%29%29+=+log%28a%2C+%28p%29%29+-+log%28a%2C+%28q%29%29
  • log%28a%2C+%28p%2Aq%29%29+=+q%2Alog%28a%2C+%28p%29%29

Your logarithm's argument is the product of 8 and the square root. So we can use the first property, the one for products, to do the first expansion:
log%285%2C+%288%29%29+%2B+log%285%2C+%28sqrt%28y%2Fm%29%29%29
The next step is the trickiest. Remembering that a square root is the same as a power of 1/2 we can rewrite the square root. And by rewriting the argument this way we can use the third property above to expand it:
log%285%2C+%288%29%29+%2B+log%285%2C+%28%28y%2Fm%29%5E%281%2F2%29%29%29
Using the third property on the second logarithm we get:
log%285%2C+%288%29%29+%2B+%281%2F2%29log%285%2C+%28y%2Fm%29%29
Next, since the argument of the second logarithm is now a quotient, we can use the second rule to expand it:
log%285%2C+%288%29%29+%2B+%281%2F2%29%28log%285%2C+%28y%29%29+-+log%285%2C+%28m%29%29%29
Note the use of parentheses! This is an excellent habit to have when substituting one expression for another, especially when the two expressions have a different number of terms. Here we are replacing a single logarithm with the difference of two logarithms (one term replaced by two terms). Without the parentheses we might not realize that the 1/2 applies to both terms! With the parentheses it should be obvious that the Distributive Property must be used:

This is the "expanded" expression, with each logarithm's argument being a simgle number or variable.