DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

MAT111 INTRODUCTORY MATHEMATICS I

WEEK 9: LECTURE NOTE

EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS

EXPONENTIAL FUNCTIONS
Definition 1. For a > 0, a 6= 1, the exponential function with base a is given by

f (x) = ax , x ∈ R.

Example 2. Evaluate f (x) = 2x at

(a) x = −3 (b) x = 0 (c) x = 0.5 (d) x = −π
Solution: Use a calculator to get decimals rounded to 3 or 4 digits.
1 1
(a) f (−3) = 2−3 = = = 0.125
23 8
(b) f (0) = 20 = 1
1 √
(c) f (0.5) = 20.5 = 2 2 = 2 = 1.4142
1
(d) f (−π) = 2−π = = 0.1133
2π
1
Example 3. Evaluate f (x) = ( )x at
2
(a) x = −3 (b) x = 0 (c) x = 0.5 (d) x = −π
Solution:
1
(a) f (−3) = ( )−3 = 8
2
1
(b) f (0) = ( )0 = 1
2
s
1 1
(c) f (0.5) = ( )0.5 = = 0.7071 (use calculator)
2 2
1
(d) f (−π) = ( )−π = 8.8261(use calculator)
2
1
Thoroughly look at the values of f (x) = 2x and g(x) = ( )x to the nature of their
2
graphs.
1 1
x -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 − 0 1 2 3 4 5
2 √2
1 1 1 1 1 1
f(x) √ 1 2 2 4 8 16 32
32 16 8 4 2 2
√ 1 1 1 1 1 1
g(x) 32 16 8 4 2 2 1 √
2 2 4 8 16 32
1
 9

f (x) = 2x
8

g(x) = 0.5x
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5

−1

Domain f =(−∞, +∞)=Domain g Range f =(0, ∞)=Range g

From the above graphs we have the following properties:

f (x) = ax , a > 1 f (x) = ax , 0 < a < 1
Domain =(−∞, +∞) Domain =(−∞, +∞)
Range =(0, +∞) Range =(0, +∞)
y-intercept: (0, 1) y-intercept: (0, 1)
Increasing on (−∞, +∞) Decreasing on (−∞, +∞)
x-axis is a horizontal asymptote x-axis is a horizontal asymptote

Recall the following properties of Exponents:

(a) ax ay = ax+y . (d) (ab)x = ax bx . (g) |a2 | = |a|2 = a2 .

ax
(b) = ax−y . (e) (ax )y = axy . (h) a0 = 1.
ay
1 1 a ax
(c) a−x = = ( )x . (f) ( )x = x .
ax a b b
2
TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE PARENT FUNCTION f (x) = ax
Given the graph of f (x) = ax then
(i) h(x) = f (−x) = a−x : Reflection of f (x) about y−axis
(ii) h(x) = −f (x) = −ax : Reflection of f (x) about x−axis
(iii) h(x) = f (x + c) = ax+c (c > 0) : Horizontal shift of f (x) c units left
(iv) h(x) = f (x − c) = ax−c (c > 0) : Horizontal shift of f (x) c units right
(v) h(x) = f (x) + c = ax + c (c > 0) : Vertical shift of f (x) c units upwards
(vi) h(x) = f (x) − c = ax − c (c > 0) : Vertical shift of f (x) c units downwards
THE NATURAL BASE e = 2.718281828...
The irrational number e = 2.718281828... is called natural base and the function
f (x) = ex
is called the natural exponential function.
x -3 -2 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 2
e 0.0498 0.1353 0.3679 0.6065 1 1.6487
x
e 7.3891

8 f (x) = ex

−3.5 −3 −2.5 −2 −1.5 −1 −0.5 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

3
Example 4. Given the function h(x) = 2 − ex+3 , describe all transformations in the
graph h(x) and state the parent function f (x). Then sketch the graph of h(x) and f (x)
on the same plane.
Solution. The parent function f (x) = ex is

(i) Reflected about x−axis: h1 (x) = −f (x) = −ex

(ii) Horizontally shifted 3 units to the left: h2 (x) = h1 (x + 3) = −ex+3

(iii) Vertically shifted 2 units upwards: h(x) = 2 + h2 (x) = 2 − ex+3

GRAPHS OF f (x) = ex , h1 (x) = −ex , h2 (x) = −ex+3 , h(x) = 2 − ex+3

y

8 y = f (x)

x
−9 −8 −7 −6 −5 −4 −3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5

−2

−4

−6
y = h2 (x) y = h(x) y = h1 (x)
−8

Example 5. Given the function h(x) = 2−x+1 − 3, state the parent function f (x) and
describe all sequence of transformations to obtain h(x). Then sketch the graph of h(x)
and f (x) on the same plane.
Solution. The parent function f (x) = 2x is

(i) Reflected about y−axis: h1 (x) = f (−x) = e−x

(ii) Horizontally shifted 1 unit to the right: h2 (x) = h1 (x − 1) = −e−(x−1)

4
(iii) Vertically shifted 3 units downwards: h(x) = h2 (x) − 3 = e−x+1 − 3
(iv) GRAPHS OF f (x) = 2x , h1 (x) = 2−x , h2 (x) = −e−(x−1) , h(x) = e−x+1 − 3

9 y

8 y = f (x)

1 y = h2 (x)
y = h1 (x) x
−3 −2 −1 1 2 3 4 5
−1

−2

−3 y = h(x)

−4

Exercises
1. Use a calculator to the given exponential function at the indicated value of x. Round
your answer to three decimal places
3
 x
(a) f (x) = 5x , x = −π (b) f (x) = ex , x = 9.2 (c) f (x) = , x = −3
4

2. Use the graph of the parent function f (x) to describe all transformations that yield
the graph of g(x). Then sketch the graphs of f (x) and g(x) on the same plane.
(a) f (x) = 3x , g(x) = 3x−5
(b) f (x) = 0.3x , g(x) = −0.3x + 5
1 1
 x  −(x+4)
(c) f (x) = , g(x) =
2 2
5
LOGARITHMIC FUNCTIONS
We see that the graphs of the exponential function

f (x) = ax , a > 0, a 6= 1

passes the Horizontal Line Test and therefore must have an inverse function as shown
in the graph below.

12 y = f (x) = ax , a > 1

y=x
10

4 y = f −1 (x)

−6 −4 −2 2 4 6 8 10

−2

−4

−6

Definition 6. For x > 0, a > 0 and a 6= 1, the inverse of exponential function y = ax

is called the logarithmic function with base a, denoted by y = loga x. That is,

y = loga x if and only if x = ay .

Note that from the definition of inverse function, if f (x) = ax and g(x) = loga x, then we
have:

1. Domain of g = Range of f = (0, +∞).

2. Range of g =Domain of f =(−∞, +∞).

6
 GRAPHS OF f (x) = log2 x and g(x) = log 1 x
2

5 y = loga x, a > 1

−2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
−1

−2

−3

−4

−5 y = loga x, 0 < a < 1

Example 7. Evaluate f (x) = log3 x at the given points in the table.

x 0.001 0.1 0.5 1 1.5 2 3 4 9 75

f (x) -6.288 -2.095 -0.631 0 0.369 0.631 1 1.261 2 3.930

Definition 8. The inverse of the natural exponential function,

y = ex ,

is called the NATURAL LOGARITHMIC function. The natural logarithmic func-

tion is denoted by
y = ln x;
that is,
y = ln x if and only if x = ey .
The graph of natural logarithmic function is given below:

7
 16
y=x

14 y = ex

12

10

4
y = ln x
2

−6 −4 −2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
−2

−4

−6

Summary: Logarithmic functions have the following properties:

f (x) = loga x, a > 1 f (x) = loga x, 0 < a < 1

 Domain =(0, +∞) Domain =(0, +∞)

 Range =(−∞, +∞) Range =(−∞, +∞)
 x-intercept: (1, 0) x-intercept: (1, 0)
 Increasing on (0, +∞) Decreasing on (0, +∞)
 y-axis is a vertical asymptote y-axis is a vertical asymptote
 It is one-to-one function It is one-to-one function

Properties of Logarithms:

(1) loga 1 = 0. (4) loga bx = x loga b.

(2) loga (xy) = loga x + loga y. (5) aloga x = x.

x ln b logc b
(3) loga ( ) = loga x − loga y. (6) loga b = = for c > 0, c 6= 1.
y ln a logc a
8
Properties of Natural Logarithmic Function:

1. ln 1 = 0.

2. ln (xy) = ln x + ln y for all positive real numbers x and y.

x
3. ln ( ) = ln x − ln y for all positive real numbers x and y.
y
4. ln bx = x ln b for b > 0 and x ∈ R.

5. eln x = x for each positive real number x.

6. ln (ex ) = x for every real number x.

ln b
7. loga b = for a > 0, a 6= 1 and b > 0.
ln a
Example 9. Evaluate each logarithm at the indicated value of x. Use a calculator if you
need it.

1. f (x) = log10 x at x = 10000. Answer: f (10000) = 4.

1 1
2. g(x) = log4 x at x = . Answer: f ( ) = −3.
64 64
3. h(x) = ln x at x = 1. Answer: h(1) = 0.

4. k(x) = ln x at x = e. Answer: f (e) = 1.

5. f (x) = log10 x at x = 25. Answer: f (25) = 1.3979.

6. g(x) = log3 x at x = 0.95. Answer: g(0.95) = −0.047.

2 2
7. h(x) = ln x at x = . Answer: h( ) = −0.405.
3 3
8. k(x) = log7 x at x = 65. Answer: f (65) = 2.145.