Change of Base Formula for Logarithms

Logarithm is a means of expressing a number using exponents. Example log101000 is equal to 3 as 1000 is a cube of ten and can be written as log_10 10^3. Hence the value is 3.
The common base for logarithms is base ten and the other base is the natural logarithm base –e. At times while calculating logarithms we come across base other than 10 and the base e, in such cases the base change can be done using a special formula.

Logarithm change of base formula can be given as, log x to base a = log x to base b/log a to base b.  To understand how to arrive to this base change formula let us go through the following steps:
Consider y=log_a x, we get x = a^y
Taking log_b on both sides would result in log_b x = log_b a^y
Applying the power rule to the above equation gives, log_b x = y log_b a
Now dividing on both sides with log_b a gives, log_b x/ log_b a= y log_b a/ log_b a
So, we get, y = log_b x/ log_b a

Let us now consider a simple example, the value of log 27. This can be written as log_10 7/log_10 2

The value can be calculated as log 7=0.845 and log2= 0.3010. When these values are divided the final answer would be 2.80730…; thus using loga x= log_bx/log_b a, the change of base formula logarithms value of the given logarithmic expression can be found easily. Using Log base change formula it becomes easy to evaluate logarithms with different base. Here the logarithm is written as a fraction with the logarithm of the number as the numerator and the logarithm of the base as the denominator, such as log_a x = log x/log a.

Then each of the logarithms is evaluated using the log table or a scientific calculator, the final value is got by dividing these values. The evaluation of other logarithms with base different from natural logarithm base or the common logarithm base can be done using the base change formula, log_a x = log_b x/log_b a. Let us now evaluate the logarithm log_5 9. This problem can be solved by either using natural logarithm or the common logarithm. Using the natural logarithm that is base-e it would be, log_5 9 = ln9/ln5 = 2.1972/1.6094 which would be approximately equal to 1.3652… Now using the common logarithm that is the base ten it would be, log_5 9 = log 9/log5= 0.9542/0.6989 = 1.3652… Using either of the logarithms we arrive at the same result.