Name
Log Function
Syntax
Log(number
)
-
number
Use: Required
Data Subtype: Double
A numeric expression greater than zero.
Return Value
A Variant of Subtype Double.
Description
Returns the natural logarithm of a given number.
Rules at a Glance
The natural logarithm is based on
e
, a constant whose value is approximately 2.718282. The natural logarithm is expressed by the equation:ez = x
where
z
=
Log(x)
. In other words, the natural logarithm is the inverse of the exponential function.number
, the value whose natural logarithm the function is to return, must be a positive real number. If number is negative or zero, the function generates runtime error 5, “Invalid procedure call or argument.”
Programming Tips & Gotchas
You can calculate base-
n
logarithms for any numberx
, by dividing the natural logarithm ofx
by the natural logarithm ofn
, as the following expression illustrates:Log
n
(x
) = Log(x
) / Log(n
)For example, the
Log10
function shows the source code for a custom function that calculates base-10 logarithms:Static Function Log10(X) Log10 = Log(X) / Log(10#) End Function
A number of other mathematical functions that aren’t intrinsic to VBScript can be computed using the value returned by the
Log
function. The functions and their formulas are:- Inverse Hyperbolic Sine
HArcsin(X)
=
Log(X
+
Sqr(X
*
X
+
1))
- Inverse Hyperbolic Cosine
HArccos(X)
=
Log(X
+
Sqr(X
*
X
-
1))
- Inverse Hyperbolic Tangent
HArctan(X)
=
Log((1
+
X)
/
(1
-
X))
/
2
- Inverse Hyperbolic Secant
HArcsec(X)
=
Log((Sqr(-X
*
X
+
1)
+
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