Exponential Functions

Solving Exponential Equations

An exponential equation is an equation in which one or more of the terms is an exponential function. e.g. Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle 5^x = 2^{x+2}} . Exponential equations can be solved with logarithms.

e.g. Solve $3^{x+1}=4^{2x-1}$

Failed to parse (MathML with SVG or PNG fallback (recommended for modern browsers and accessibility tools): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \begin{align} 3^{x+1} &= 4^{2x-1} \\ (x+1)\ln 3 &= (2x-1)\ln 4 \\ x\ln 3 + \ln 3 &= 2x\ln 4 - \ln 4 \\ \ln 3 + \ln 4 &= x(2\ln 4 - \ln 3) \\ x &= \frac{\ln 3 + \ln 4}{2\ln 4 - \ln 3} \\ x &\approx 1.4844 \end{align}}

Resources

• Exponential Functions, Book Chapter
• Guided Notes