Skip to main content

2020 AMC 12B Problem 13

Problem 13 of 25IntermediateAlgebra

Which of the following is the value of log⁡26+log⁡36?\sqrt{\log_2 6 + \log_3 6}?

Answer choices

Show solution

Solution

Let a=log⁡23,a = \log_2 3, so log⁡32=1a.\log_3 2 = \tfrac1a. Then log⁡26+log⁡36=(1+log⁡23)+(1+log⁡32)=2+a+1a. \begin{gathered} \log_2 6 + \log_3 6 \\ {}= (1 + \log_2 3) \\ \quad {}+ (1 + \log_3 2) \\ {}= 2 + a + \frac1a. \end{gathered} Meanwhile (log⁡23+log⁡32)2\left(\sqrt{\log_2 3} + \sqrt{\log_3 2}\right)^2 =a+1a+2a⋅1a= a + \frac1a + 2\sqrt{a \cdot \tfrac1a} =a+1a+2,= a + \frac1a + 2, which equals the expression above. Taking square roots, log⁡26+log⁡36\sqrt{\log_2 6 + \log_3 6} =log⁡23+log⁡32.= \sqrt{\log_2 3} + \sqrt{\log_3 2}. Thus, the correct answer is D.
AoPS wiki

Tagged: logarithm · algebraic manipulation

More practice