Use the second law of logarithms to express the left side as a quotient:
log M = log N means that M=N.
Therefore
Multiply both sides of the equation by x:
Set equal to zero:
Are you sure you copied this right? They "usually" factor at this point. Nevertheless,
Solve by quadratic formula or completing the square. Completing the square is actually easier.
Add +2 to each side and place a blank space on each side of the equation:
Take half of the x coefficient, and square it. Half of 4 is 2, and 2^2 = 4. Add +4 to each side of the equation on the blank lines above:
Take square root of each side of the equation:
Subract 2 from each side:
Of course, you must reject the value , since it makes the log of a negative. The final answer is
