Whether it's measured in base 10 or base e, makes no difference to the designation as being "logarithmic".Earthquakes, on the other hand, are measured on a log10 scale, and yet sometimes referred to in various literature as simply being "logarithmic".
Depends on the context, so it's safest to use a subscript with the log function and to check, when possible, what base the log is being taken to. Most programming languages use log() for the natural log and log10() for the common log.It's been a while since I've used logarithms but doesn't the unannotated term log imply base 10? So that when using base 2 or base e then it would need to annotated as such?
MSExcel also works well.Using MS Mathematics and my various TI calculators. Actually seems like my TI-36 PRO works the best for logs except I am unable to set the base on any of them it seems. The 36 has a quirk in that it somehow cannot solve the square root of 3? The 83 you have to scroll through a catalog to find the log function so it is a PIA. The nspire is a poor substitute for a computer so I use my computer with MS Math instead. Haven't read the help file for MS Math to see what all it can do with log.
Slide rules were set up with base-10 in mind because they were tools to facilitate doing base-10 arithmetic.K, thanks guys! Decades ago when using my slide rule, it was log or ln. Or at least that is sorta how I remember it. Not a bad suggestion to subscript it to remove any ambiguity.
In several fields, lg() is used to indicate the base-2 logarithm. But this just underscores that it is unsafe to make assumptions about what base is being meant (except that ln() is all-but-guaranteed to mean natural log) -- different people in different fields mean different things. So, when YOU write something or document something, be explicit. If nothing else, put a note somewhere that indicated what your nomenclature is.Once I figured out how to use the Nspire, if I don't enter a base number in the subscript space, it assumes base 10 and fills in the subscript as 10 automatically. In an older text I was perusing today it mentioned using lg for base ten instead of log. Maybe it's old age but I don't remember anything about a base other than 10 or e. Once I got the hang of using base numbers and the theory behind it, it's not so bad and makes a lot of sense. So I'm surprised I don't remember ever seeing it before. It makes it pretty easy to convert from log to exponential expressions.
Also discovered that the Nspire won't resolve the square root of 2. Very strange, the 36 won't do 3 and the Nspire won't do 2?
I have a Ti-36X Pro, which does the same thing. The calculator defaults to showing you the exact answer (if possible) when pressing the 'enter' key, which can be handy (e.g., typing \(\sqrt{18}\) and pressing 'enter' will result in \(3 \sqrt{2}\), and typing \(\frac{17}{51}\) results in \(\frac{1}{3}\)), though this isn't always desired, as you've found. Press the '\(\approx\)' key above the 'enter' key to get the approximate decimal representation.Batteries are not the problem. Found out entirely by accident during a calculation. In both cases it shows the root symbol with the number under it and when enter is pushed it moves from the left-hand entry side of the screen to the right-side solution side. The older TI-83 has no problem with either. I've done a lot of root calculations over the years but nothing simple like finding the root of 2 or 3 until I started doing the exponential equivalents of some Log to different roots expressions. If I multiply or divide it, it remains as a symbol. But if multiply 2 of them against each other it solves or if I raise the square root symbol to any power it solves. Nothing that I've read in their literature about it.
Also the 36 does do 3^1/2 so it can express the square root of 3. Such a weird "feature"...
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