Multi-valued logarithmic function I'm reading some notes for an electrical engineering class and came to the following: "...2^j can represent a countably infinite number of real numbers. These examples are related to the fact that if we define w = log(z) to mean that z=e^w, then for z!=0, this logarithm function log(z) is multi-valued." In here, I was wondering what they mean by multi-valued. There is no further description of this function on the text. Are they referring to the complex logarithmic function? Is the non-complex logarithmic function multi-valued too?

Aydin Jarvis

Aydin Jarvis

Answered question

2022-10-30

Multi-valued logarithmic function
I'm reading some notes for an electrical engineering class and came to the following: "... 2 j can represent a countably infinite number of real numbers. These examples are related to the fact that if we define w = log(z) to mean that z = e w , then for z 0, this logarithm function log(z) is multi-valued."
In here, I was wondering what they mean by multi-valued. There is no further description of this function on the text. Are they referring to the complex logarithmic function? Is the non-complex logarithmic function multi-valued too?

Answer & Explanation

yorbakid2477w6

yorbakid2477w6

Beginner2022-10-31Added 12 answers

The real logarithm function, log : R + R is certainly not multi-valued, as the real exponential function is bijective from R R +
The complex logarithm has some multi-valued issues because the complex exponential has periodic behavior. That is, e x + 2 π i = e x , so the logarithm needs to reflect this complication somehow.
4enevi

4enevi

Beginner2022-11-01Added 5 answers

For the complex logarithm, consider the fact that i 4 = 1. Then
ln ( z ) = ln ( z i 4 k ) = ln ( z ) + 4 k ln ( i ) = ln ( z ) + 2 k π i .

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