Evaluate 56,200 ÷ 3,484 using logs.
From log tables
log 56,200 = 4.7497363
log 3,484 = 3.5420781
To divide, we subtract the log of the denominator since
\begin{aligned} 56,200 ÷ 3,484 &= 10^{4.7497363} ÷ 10^{3.5420781} \\ &= 10^{4.7497363 − 3.5420781} \\ &= 10^{1.2076582 } \\&= 1.6130884 \end{aligned}
Note that when you use the [LOG] function key on a calculator to obtain the logs of numbers less than 1 you get a negative sign, e.g.
log 0.31 = −0.5086383
Logarithms can also be used to work out powers and roots of numbers.