The purpose of this task is to help students see the "why" behind properties of logs that are familiar but often just memorized (and quickly forgotten or misremembered). The task focuses on the verbal definition of the log, helping students to concentrate on understanding that a logarithm is an exponent, as opposed to completing a more computational approach.

This task and its companion, F-BF Exponentials and Logarithms I, is designed to help students gain facility with properties of exponential and logarithm functions resulting from the fact that they are inverses.

The goal of this task is to develop an understanding of why rational exponents are defined as they are (N-RN.1), however it also raises important issues about distinguishing between linear and exponential behavior (F-LE.1c) and it requires students to create an equation to model a context (A-CED.2

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: The table below shows some input-output pairs of two functions $f$ and $g$ that agree for the values that are given but some of their output values are...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Standard maps of the earth are broken into a grid of latitude lines (east-west) and longitude lines (north-south). Consider the function, $N(\ell)$, th...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: A model airplane pilot is practicing flying her airplane in a big loop for an upcoming competition. At time $t=0$ her airplane is at the bottom of the ...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: You are a marine biologist working for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). You are concerned that the rare coral mathemafish population is being...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: The table below shows historical estimates for the population of London. Year18011821 18411861 18811901 1921 1939 1961 London population 1,100,000 1,60...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Pictured below are the graphs of four different functions, defined in terms of eight constants: $a, b, c, k, m, p, q, \text{ and } r.$ The equations of...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: In this task we are going to investigate the graphs of $\displaystyle{f(x) = \frac{1}{x+a}}$ and $\displaystyle{g(x) = \frac{1}{x^2+b}}.$ Move the slid...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Many computer applications use very complex mathematical algorithms. The faster the algorithm, the more smoothly the programs run. The running time of ...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: The table below shows the temperature, $T,$ in Tucson, Arizona $t$ hours after midnight. When does the temperature decrease the fastest: between midnig...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Graphite is a mineral with many technological uses and it is perhaps most familiar for its use in writing instruments. At the atomic level, it is made ...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: In 1901, the San Francisco mint produced only 72,664 quarters. By comparison, during other years around the turn of the century they made between 1 mil...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: SCREEN I In science class, some students dropped a basketball and allowed it to bounce. They measured and recorded the highest point of each bounce. ht...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: SCREEN I In science class, some students dropped a basketball and allowed it to bounce. They measured and recorded the highest point of each bounce. ht...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Below is a table showing the approximate boiling point of water at different elevations: Elevation (meters above sea level)Boiling Point (degrees Celsi...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Below are population estimates for the larger metropolitan areas of Paris (France), Shenzhen (China), and Lagos (Nigeria) for each decade between 1950 ...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: How do the values of the three functions $f(x) = 2x$, $g(x) = x^2$ and $h(x) = 2^x$ compare for large positive and negative values of $x$? Explain your...

This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: According to ancient legend, Dido made a deal with a local ruler to obtain as much land as she could cover with an oxhide. Dido interpreted ''cover'' i...