1.5 Laws of Exponents and Logarithms

Zero and Negative Indices

Negative Exponents

https://youtu.be/Sqjy1RGYn_M

Negative Exponents - Basic Rules and Examples

How to evaluate Logarithms

Evaluate means "Find the Value"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw5t6BTQYRU

1) BASIC LOGS: you can read log notation as "log, base 3, of 9 equals X". The small (subscript) number is called the base. You can always evaluate a log expression by rearranging it into something called exponential form. Every log expression is connected to an exponential expression. In this example, the log is connected to the exponential form "3 to the X power equals 9". This means, "3 raised to what power gives you 9?" Since 3 raised to the power of 2 equals 9, the answer for X is 2. This is also the answer for the value of the log expression. The log is always equal to the power (or exponent) in the exponential version, and in this case it equals 2. If you want, you can find the log value in your head just by asking yourself what power you need in order to turn the base number into the middle number ("argument" number). Note: if there is no base number in the log expression (no little subscript number), then the base is 10, since 10 is the default base. 

2) WEIRDER LOGS (log of 0, 1, a negative number, or a fraction): you can use the same steps to rearrange log expressions that have a fraction, negative number, 0, or 1 in them. You can still rearrange them to be in exponential form just like you can with the basic logs from earlier. The log of 1 will always be 0, since 0 is the only power that can turn a base into 1. The log of 0 will always be undefined, since no power can turn a base into 0. The log of a negative number is undefined in the real number system, since no real power can turn a positive base into a negative number.