Main Concept

Scientists often deal with rapidly or widely varying processes by looking at the logarithms of the process values. Doing so often reveals more information about such processes, particularly in regions where the quantities are small, than the original process values can show. This technique introduces a logarithmic scale.

Some commonly used logarithmic scales are acidity, measured as pH (power of Hydrogen), sound intensity as measured in decibels, and earthquake intensity, measured on the Richter scale. Choose one of these from the drop down list and look at some typical values. Toggle between a linear and logarithmic $x$-axis to see the graph more clearly.

pHdecibelRichter

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