Solve $x + 3^{x} = 4$ using Lambert W Function.

algebra-precalculusexponential functionlambert-wlogarithms

As stated in the title I am trying to solve the equation $$x + 3^{x} = 4$$ using Lambert W Function and which led me to the result $$x = 4 – \frac{W(3^{4} \ln{3})}{\ln{3}}$$ and driven by the belief that Lambert W Function can't be solved, when I entered only the last term in RHS in WolframAlpha the value of $\frac{W(3^{4} \ln3)}{\ln3}$ turned out to be 3 which matches with the final result of $x = 1$ which can be easily deduced just by looking at the equation long enough. But wasn't able to calculate the value of above expression on my own and that's where I need help because I think if the above expression has exactly the value equalt to 3 there must be some way to solve it. Thus, I am interested to know the way to deduce the value of above term by solving the Lambert W Function.

Thanks for any help.

Best Answer

Answer to your explicit question :

Observe that ,

$$ \begin{align}W\left(3^4\ln 3\right)&=W\left(3^3\cdot 3\ln 3\right)\\ &=W\left(3^3\ln 3^3\right)\\ &=W\left(\color{#c00}{\ln 3^3}\cdot e^{\color{#c00}{\ln 3^3}}\right)\\ &=\ln 3^3=3\ln 3\end{align} $$

Therefore, you obtain that :

$$ \begin{align}x&=4-\frac{W\left(3^4\ln 3\right)}{\ln 3}\\ &=4-\frac {3\ln 3}{\ln 3}\\ &=4-3=1\thinspace .\end{align} $$


$\rm{Construction :}$

Substituting $\thinspace 3^x=u\thinspace $, you get $\thinspace x=4-u\thinspace $ or $\thinspace x=\dfrac {\ln u}{\ln 3}\thinspace $, which leads to the following :

$$ \begin{align}x+3^{x}&=4\\ \frac{\ln u}{\ln 3}+u&=4\\ \ln u+u\ln 3&=4\ln 3\\ \ln \left(u\cdot e^{u\ln 3}\right)&=4\ln 3\\ u\ln 3\cdot e^{u\ln 3}&=e^{4\ln 3}\cdot \ln 3\\ u\ln 3&=W\left(3^4\ln 3\right)\end{align} $$

Then, the exact value becomes :

$$x=4-\frac{W\left(3^4\ln 3\right)}{\ln 3}\thinspace .$$

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