How to Compute Natural Logarithm in R

Logarithm, the inverse of the exponential, is very useful in solving complex non-linear exponential solutions.

The log() function in R returns the natural logarithmic values. The log10() and the log2() functions have base 10 and 2 respectively. The following code snippet shows the use of these functions:

log(5)
[1] 1.609438
log10(5)
[1] 0.69897
log2(5)
[1] 2.321928

We can also specify the base in the log() function using the base parameter. The following example computes the log value of 5 with base 3:

log(5,3)
[1] 1.464974

The log1p() function is also available in R, and it computes the natural logarithmic value of 1+n, where n is the value passed to the function. The following example computes the log value of 1+4:

log1p(4)
[1] 1.609438

Depending on the value and base of the logarithmic value required, we can also use them in equations. A sample equation is shown below:

y ~ a + b + log(10/x)