Logarithms (Sunday)

1. For all positive numbers x 6= 1, simplify

1
1
1
+
+
.
log3 x log4 x log5 x
(AHSME 1978)
2. If log8 3 = P and log3 5 = Q, express log10 5 in terms of P and Q. (Mu Alpha Theta 1990)
3. Suppose p and q are positive numbers for which
log9 p = log12 q = log16 (p + q).
What is the value of pq ? (AIME)
4. Let x and y be positive numbers such that xlogy x = 2 and y logx y = 16. Find x. (AIME)
5. Find a solution to the equation
3

xx = 3.
(Cut-the-Knot)
6. Show that for any sequence of positive real numbers a1 , a2 , ..., an ,
log nn n log(a1 + a2 + ... + an ) log a1 log a2 ... log an .
7. Let x, y be numbers in the interval (0, 1) with the property that there exists a positive number a
different from 1 such that
logx a + logy a = 4 logxy a.
Prove that x = y. (T. Andreescu)
8. Find all solutions in positive real numbers a, b, c, d to the following system:
a + b + c + d = 12,
abcd = 27 + ab + ac + ad + bc + bd + cd.
(1996 British Mathematical Olympiad)
9. The harmonic series is defined

1 1
1
+ + ... + .
2 3
n
Does Hn converge or diverge as n approaches infinity?
Is there another function that approximates the harmonic series?
Hn := 1 +

10. Challenge Problem: Show that the set of positive integers that cannot be represented as the sum of
distinct perfect squares is finite.
(Romania, IMO Shortlist 2000)
Thanks to our contributors: Mia (1-2), Anying (3-4), Forest (5-10)