Take the following:
(2)^3 = 8
I understand that this is
2 * 2 * 2 = 8
My question is how do I reverse engineer this if I do not know the power like this:
(2)^x = 8
What is the value of x?
x could potentially contain a decimal and so could the result:
(2)^1.5 = 2.82842712474619
So without any numbers it would be:
(y)^x = z
How do I find out what x is?
x = ?
Best Answer
See logarithm. That's essentially the inverse function of an exponential function. In your case $$2^x = 8 \iff x = \log_2(8)$$
In general: $$a^x = b \iff x = \log_a(b)$$