exponent when it is written as a base ten number (in other words, 10 to
some power)?”
For example
log 10^4 = ?
Ask yourself, “What’s the exponent of 10^4 when it’s written as 10? Well, it’s
already written as 10, so the answer is 4.
Try these.
log 10−8 =
log 1,000 =
log 0.01 =
log 1 =
The answers are −8, 3, −2, and 0, respectively.
But taking a logarithm of a number that isn’t an even factor of 10 can seem
tough. For example
log 58 = ?
Well, for this test, you can just make a good guess: 58 is between 10 and 100.
Since log 10 = 1 and log 100 = 2, log 58 must be between 1 and 2.
And that’s good enough for the SAT Chemistry Subject Test.