Question

What happens if you take the common logarithm of both sides of 5^x = -6 in order
to solve the equation? Why does this happen?​

Answer 1

The base of the log is 10, so we must raise both sides of the equation to be powers of 10: ... First, we'll move the 4 to the other side to get the natural log by itself: The base of the log is e, so we must raise both sides of the equation to be powers of e: On the left hand side, the e and ln cancel, leaving just 3x.