Solve Inverse Function: g^-1(6) for g(x) = 5 + x + e^x

momogiri
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Question:
If g(x) = 5 + x + e^x, find g^-1(6) [inverse of g, not g to the power of -1]

Attempted:
So I first substitued g(x) to y

So y = 5 + x + e^x
then I tried isolating the x
So y - 5 = x + e^x
Then I applied ln to both sides
ln(y) - ln(5) = ln(x) + ln(e^x)
Due to the log rules, I can take down the x from ln(e^x)
So it becomes ln(y) - ln(5) = ln(x) + x(ln(e))
And since ln(e) = 1, that means
ln(y) - ln(5) = ln(x) + x

Ok. So now I'm stuck.
Where should I go from here?? I know I'm missing something extremely crucial here, but I'm really not seeing it :(
Please help! And thanks a bunch!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
You applied the ln incorrectly. You'd be getting ln (y-5), not ln y - ln 5.

See if you can go from there :smile:

Anyway, the idea for finding an inverse function like this is, replace all the y with x, and replace all the x with y. Then solve for the new y, which is the inverse function. Then plug in the given x.
 
Oh, really? XD
So if it's ln(y - 5) then x and e^x would be ln(x + e^x) right?
I.. don't know where to go from there.. :(
 
You could think of the question as saying: What value of x would make 5+x+e^x=6?

In other words, find x, if x+e^x = 1.

Now, you can either take the log of both sides here, but really its just easy to see that its 0.
 
Oh wow.. so I was making this question harder than it seems XD
Thanks so much, Gib Z! :D
Brownie points for you :D :D
 
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top