Question

how do you find n in this type of equation:
81=3 to the power of n-1?
Obviously here n is 5, but is there some formula for figuring that out?

Answer 1

81 = 3^4
4 = n-1
n = 5

Answer 2

yeah, i get that, but assuming that the #s aren't 81 and 3, and you don't already know what the exponent should be. How would you figure it out?

Answer 3

You can use logarithum
log 81 / log 3 = n-1

Answer 4

thanks