solve for $x$ without using softwares $\log_{\sqrt{x}}2+\log_6x^x=4$

Is there any nice way to solve this equation without wolfram?

$\log_{\sqrt{x}}2+\log_6x^x=4$

Thanks.

• Can you please share the source of the problem – lab bhattacharjee Aug 30 '14 at 17:06
• @labbhattacharjee - it's a question i found in one of my old notebook of exersices no source known. – dave Aug 30 '14 at 17:08
• Since wolfram alpha doesn't find an exact solution, I don't think there are any such solutions, and thus it probably can't be solved in a 'nice' way. – Ragnar Aug 30 '14 at 17:16
• It's equivalent to, with $t=\log_2 x$, $$\log_62 \cdot t^2 2^t-4t+2=0$$ Unlikely to yield except to numerical methods. – Macavity Aug 30 '14 at 17:16
• @dave Then you probably copied it wrong, unless your question is meant to use the Lambert W-function, or if you only want an approximation. – Thomas Andrews Aug 30 '14 at 17:24

Rewriting $$\log_{\sqrt{x}}2+\log_6x^x=4$$ leads to the equation $$f(x)=x \log ^2(x)-4 \log (6) \log (x)+\log (4) \log (6)=0$$ which cannot be solved analytically ($f'(x)=0$ or $f''(x)=0$ cannot be solved either).

Plotting the function shows two roots, the first close to $x=1.5$, the second close to $x=4.0$. For the solution, Newton is the simplest root-finder. Strating from a "reasonable" guess $x_0$, it will update it according to $$x_{n+1}=x_n-\frac{f(x_n)}{f'(x_n)}$$

For the first root, using $x_0=1.5$, the successive iterates are $1.45386$, $1.45521$ which is the solution for six significant figures. Limiting to a single iteration, we should have obtained $$x \simeq \frac{6 \log \left(\frac{9}{8}\right) \log (6)-3 \log (384)}{3 \log ^2\left(\frac{3}{2}\right)-\log (147456)}$$

For the second root, using $x_0=4.0$, the successive iterates are $3.91886$, $3.91689$ which is the solution for six significant figures. Limiting to a single iteration, we should have obtained $$x \simeq \frac{\log \left(\frac{4096}{81}\right)+\log (6) \log (64)}{\log ^2(4)+\log \left(\frac{8}{3}\right)}$$ As you can see, all of this could be done using a pocket calculator.

• How did you evaluate $\log_{\sqrt{x}}2$ ? Seems to me that there's missing a factor $2$ in your equations (when compared with the other answer). – Han de Bruijn Aug 31 '14 at 9:45
• @HandeBruijn $$\log_{\sqrt{x}}a=\frac{\log (a)}{\log \left(\sqrt{x}\right)}=\frac{2 \log (a)}{\log (x)}$$ I double checked and I did not find anything wrong. Take care : some $\log(2)$ became $\log(4)$. Please tell me where I made mistakes. I really thank you for your attention. Cheers :-) – Claude Leibovici Aug 31 '14 at 14:10
• OK, now I see there's nothing wrong indeed (that $\log(4)$ as you say). – Han de Bruijn Aug 31 '14 at 16:37

I am pretty sure the isn't solvable with Algebra II, unless you resort to the mess that is complex logs. However: $$log_\sqrt{x}2+log_6x^x=4\Rightarrow log_\sqrt{x}6+x(log_26)(log_6x)=4(log_26)\Rightarrow \frac{2}{log_6x}+x(log_26)(log_6x)=4(log_26)\Rightarrow2+x(log_6x)^2-4(log_6x)(log_26)=0$$ which is a quadratic in $log_6x$ except for the pesky x coefficient. Using the quadratic formula anyway, and evaluating the logs, $$log_6x\approx\frac{10.34\pm\sqrt{106.91-8x}}{2x}$$ This is definitely solvable. However, The only way I can come up with a numerical solution is graphing the two sides.