MHB Find Leftmost Digit of $12^{37}$ Given Logs

  • Thread starter Thread starter anemone
  • Start date Start date
anemone
Gold Member
MHB
POTW Director
Messages
3,851
Reaction score
115
Find the leftmost digit of the figure $12^{37}$ given $0.3010<\log 2<0.3011$ and $0.4771<\log 3<0.4772$.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
We begin with:
$$12 = 2^2 \cdot 3$$
Using basic log properties with the information given:
$$22.2740 < \log(2^{74}) < 22.2814$$
$$17.6527 < \log(3^{37}) < 17.6564$$
Hence:
$$39.9267 < \log(12^{37}) < 39.9378$$
Now take $\delta = 40 - 39.9267 = 0.0733$ so that:
$$40 < \log(12^{37}) + \delta < 40.0111$$
Then the first digit of $10^{\log(12^{37}) + \delta}$ must be a 1 (and it must be just above a power of 10) and also:
$$10^{\delta} \approx 1.18$$
Note that:
$$10^{n} / 1 = 10^{n}$$
$$10^{n} / 1.111\cdots = 9 \cdot 10^{n - 1}$$
$$10^{n} / 1.25 = 8 \cdot 10^{n - 1}$$
And 1.18 falls comfortably between 1.11111... and 1.25, so [handwavy error analysis goes here] the first digit of:
$$\frac{10^{\log(12^37) + \delta}}{10^{\delta}} = 10^{\log(12^{37})} = 12^{37}$$
must be an 8.
 
Bacterius said:
We begin with:
$$12 = 2^2 \cdot 3$$
Using basic log properties with the information given:
$$22.2740 < \log(2^{74}) < 22.2814$$
$$17.6527 < \log(3^{37}) < 17.6564$$
Hence:
$$39.9267 < \log(12^{37}) < 39.9378$$
Now take $\delta = 40 - 39.9267 = 0.0733$ so that:
$$40 < \log(12^{37}) + \delta < 40.0111$$
Then the first digit of $10^{\log(12^{37}) + \delta}$ must be a 1 (and it must be just above a power of 10) and also:
$$10^{\delta} \approx 1.18$$
Note that:
$$10^{n} / 1 = 10^{n}$$
$$10^{n} / 1.111\cdots = 9 \cdot 10^{n - 1}$$
$$10^{n} / 1.25 = 8 \cdot 10^{n - 1}$$
And 1.18 falls comfortably between 1.11111... and 1.25, so [handwavy error analysis goes here] the first digit of:
$$\frac{10^{\log(12^37) + \delta}}{10^{\delta}} = 10^{\log(12^{37})} = 12^{37}$$
must be an 8.

Bacterius has found

$39.9267 < \log(12^{37}) < 39.9378$
now log 8 < 3 * .3011 or .9033

and log 9 > 2 * .4771 or .9542
as .9378 is between the 2 and also .9267 so the digits is 8.
 
Last edited:
kaliprasad said:
Bacterius has found

$39.9267 < \log(12^{37}) < 39.9378$
now log 8 < 3 * .3011 or .9093

and log 9 > 2 * .4771 or .9542
as .9378 is between the 2 and also .9267 so the digits is 8.

That's much nicer than the second part of my solution! Very nice observation
 
Thanks both for participating in this challenge.

Solution of other:

Note that the given bounds for both $\log 2$ and $\log 3$ allow us to create the following inequalities:

$39+3\log 2<37(2\log 2+\log 3)<39+2\log 3$ and

$8\times 10^{39}<12^{37}<9\times 10^{39}$

Therefore the leftmost digit of the figure $12^{37}$ is $8$.

given $0.3010<\log 2<0.3011$ and $0.4771<\log 3<0.4772$.
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. In Dirac’s Principles of Quantum Mechanics published in 1930 he introduced a “convenient notation” he referred to as a “delta function” which he treated as a continuum analog to the discrete Kronecker delta. The Kronecker delta is simply the indexed components of the identity operator in matrix algebra Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-exactly-is-diracs-delta-function/ by...
Suppose ,instead of the usual x,y coordinate system with an I basis vector along the x -axis and a corresponding j basis vector along the y-axis we instead have a different pair of basis vectors ,call them e and f along their respective axes. I have seen that this is an important subject in maths My question is what physical applications does such a model apply to? I am asking here because I have devoted quite a lot of time in the past to understanding convectors and the dual...

Similar threads

Replies
3
Views
2K
Replies
8
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
1K
Replies
2
Views
910
Replies
5
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Back
Top