what exactly *is* a logarithm and what does it do?

Question

I mean, I’ve used them in algebra many times but I never really understood what it does. Kinda like in biostatistics how I could do the math, but how it worked was beyond me entirely.

So yeah: like what’s this sorcery and what does it do/why do we use it?

In: Mathematics

Answer 1

A logarithm is like asking, “To what power do we need to raise this base number to get another number?” For example, if we ask, “What power do we raise 10 to get 100?” The answer is 2 because 10^2=100. We use logarithms to simplify complex multiplications and to solve equations involving exponential growth, like in biology, finance, and computer science. It’s a way to make big numbers easier to work with and understand.