Why is 2^(log base 2 of x) equal to x?

ixbo100

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Apr 29, 2017
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I'm getting a refresher on logs for my CS class. We're working with log base 2.

I'm having trouble figuring out why 2 ^ (log base 2 of x) = x

Appreciate your help, thank you!
 
Couple ways to go about it.

Write it in logarithmic form using this equivalence \(\displaystyle log_{b}(a) = c \iff b^{c} = a\)

\(\displaystyle 2^{log_{2}(x)} = x \iff log_{2}(x) = log_{2}(x)\)

Introduce a logarithm using this ides, \(\displaystyle If\;a^{b} = c\;then\;log\left(a^{b}\right) = log(c)\;\)

\(\displaystyle If \;2^{log_{2}(x)} = x \; then \; log_{2}\left(2^{log_{2}(x)}\right) = log_{2}(x)\)

There may be other useful demonstrations.
 
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This is very much in the spirit of the other two answers.

\(\displaystyle \text {Let } z = 2^{log_2(x)} \implies log_2(z) = log_2 \left ( 2^{log_2(x)} \right ) \implies\)

\(\displaystyle log_2(z) = log_2(x) * log_2(2) = log_2(x) * 1 = log_2(x) \implies\)

\(\displaystyle z = x \implies 2^{log_2(x)} = x.\)
 
The real question is what definitions of "exponentials" and "logarithms" are you using?
 
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