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Questions tagged [logarithms]

Questions related to real and complex logarithms.

59 votes
14 answers
24k views

How to prove that $\log(x)<x$ when $x>1$? [duplicate]

It's very basic but I'm having trouble to find a way to prove this inequality $\log(x)<x$ when $x>1$ ($\log(x)$ is the natural logarithm) I can think about the two graphs but I can't find ...
Gianolepo's user avatar
  • 2,517
66 votes
12 answers
87k views

Sum of the alternating harmonic series $\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{(-1)^{k+1}}{k} = \frac{1}{1} - \frac{1}{2} + \cdots $

I know that the harmonic series $$\sum_{k=1}^{\infty}\frac{1}{k} = \frac{1}{1} + \frac{1}{2} + \frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{4} + \frac{1}{5} + \frac{1}{6} + \cdots + \frac{1}{n} + \cdots \tag{I}$$ diverges,...
Isaac's user avatar
  • 36.6k
46 votes
11 answers
23k views

Computing the integral of $\log(\sin x)$

How to compute the following integral? $$\int\log(\sin x)\,dx$$ Motivation: Since $\log(\sin x)'=\cot x$, the antiderivative $\int\log(\sin x)\,dx$ has the nice property $F''(x)=\cot x$. Can we find ...
Kolya's user avatar
  • 505
68 votes
4 answers
73k views

Intuition behind logarithm inequality: $1 - \frac1x \leq \log x \leq x-1$

One of fundamental inequalities on logarithm is: $$ 1 - \frac1x \leq \log x \leq x-1 \quad\text{for all $x > 0$},$$ which you may prefer write in the form of $$ \frac{x}{1+x} \leq \log{(1+x)} \leq ...
Federico Magallanez's user avatar
39 votes
7 answers
12k views

Evaluating $\int_0^{\infty}\frac{\ln(x^2+1)}{x^2+1}dx$

How would I go about evaluating this integral? $$\int_0^{\infty}\frac{\ln(x^2+1)}{x^2+1}dx.$$ What I've tried so far: I tried a semicircular integral in the positive imaginary part of the complex ...
user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
2k views

For which complex $a,\,b,\,c$ does $(a^b)^c=a^{bc}$ hold?

Wolfram Mathematica simplifies $(a^b)^c$ to $a^{bc}$ only for positive real $a, b$ and $c$. See W|A output. I've previously been struggling to understand why does $\dfrac{\log(a^b)}{\log(a)}=b$ and $\...
dbanet's user avatar
  • 1,433
33 votes
6 answers
119k views

Infinite series $\sum _{n=2}^{\infty } \frac{1}{n \log (n)}$

Recently, I encountered a problem about infinite series. So my question is how to know whether the infinite series $\sum _{n=2}^{\infty } \frac{1}{n \log (n)}$ is convergent?
abc's user avatar
  • 459
8 votes
2 answers
654 views

Find $\lim_\limits{x\to -\infty}{\frac{\ln\left(1+3^x\right)}{\ln\left(1+2^x\right)}}$

Prove the following limit without using approximations and derivatives: $$\lim_\limits{x\to -\infty}{\frac{\ln\left(1+3^{x}\right)}{\ln\left(1+2^{x}\right)}}=0$$ I cannot think of any possible ...
user avatar
27 votes
6 answers
4k views

Evaluating $\int_0^{\large\frac{\pi}{4}} \log\left( \cos x\right) \, \mathrm{d}x $

It's my first post here and I was wondering if someone could help me with evaluating the definite integral $$ \int_0^{\Large\frac{\pi}{4}} \log\left( \cos x\right) \, \mathrm{d}x $$ Thanks in ...
Souvik's user avatar
  • 279
42 votes
6 answers
30k views

Understanding imaginary exponents

I am trying to understand what it means to have an imaginary number in an exponent. What does $x^{i}$ where $x$ is real mean? I've read a few pages on this issue, and they all seem to boil down to ...
friedo's user avatar
  • 2,713
96 votes
11 answers
19k views

Demystify integration of $\int \frac{1}{x} \mathrm dx$

I've learned in my analysis class, that $$ \int \frac{1}{x} \mathrm dx = \ln(x). $$ I can live with that, and it's what I use when solving equations like that. But how can I solve this, without ...
polemon's user avatar
  • 1,051
29 votes
7 answers
27k views

Simple proof Euler–Mascheroni $\gamma$ constant

I'm searching for a really simple and beautiful proof that the sequence $(u_n)_{n \in \mathbb{N}} = \displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^n \frac{1}{k} - \log(n)$ converges. At first I want to know if my answer is ...
Thomas Produit's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
7k views

Show that, for all $n > 1: \frac{1}{n + 1} < \log(1 + \frac1n) < \frac1n.$ [duplicate]

I'm learning calculus, specifically derivatives and applications of MVT, and need help with the following exercice: Show that, for all $n > 1$ $$\frac{1}{n + 1} < \log(1 + \frac1n) < \...
glpsx's user avatar
  • 2,132
23 votes
5 answers
5k views

Evaluate: $\int_0^{\pi} \ln \left( \sin \theta \right) d\theta$

Evaluate: $ \displaystyle \int_0^{\pi} \ln \left( \sin \theta \right) d\theta$ using Gauss Mean Value theorem. Given hint: consider $f(z) = \ln ( 1 +z)$. EDIT:: I know how to evaluate it, but I am ...
Mula Ko Saag's user avatar
  • 2,197
24 votes
15 answers
5k views

Is there any simple method to calculate $\sqrt x$ without using logarithm

Suppose that we don't know logarithm, then how we would able to calculate $\sqrt x$, where $x$ is a real number? More generally, is there any algorithm to calculate $\sqrt [ n ]{ x } $ without using ...
newzad's user avatar
  • 4,865

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