USINGLOGRARITHMICGRAPH

PAPER
Logarithmic graph paper is seldom seen by students in elementary courses. There
seemstobeageneralimpressionthat(1)itistoodifficulttodealwith,or(2)students
"canpickitup"withoutinstructions.Nietheristrue,inmyopinion.
Inthedaysofsliderules,studentshad(oroughttohavehad)intimatefamiliaritywith
logrithms and logarithmic scales, for every slide rule had at least two such scales.
Nowadays many of these gory details are hidden in the innards of an electronic
calculator or computer, a "black box" that grinds out numbers, whether or not those
numbershaveanysignificance.
Graphs with logarithmic scales are found in research papers and textbooks. One
exampleistheusualgraphoftheelectromagneticspectrum.Ifstudentsaretointerpret
suchgraphsintelligently,theyneedtodirectlyexperiencetheprocessofmakingone.
All sorts of computer graphing software is available. The most used software is
designedfortheneedsofbusiness,notscience.Manysuchsoftwarepackagessimply
cannotdothethingsnecessaryfordealingwiththeneedsofphysics.
7.8LOGARITHMICGRAPHPAPER
Logarithmic graph papers are available in many types. They simplify the process of
linearizing exponential and power relations and determining the constants in their
equation.

Fig.7.8.Relabelingalogarithmicscale.

Examine the logarithmic scales of such paper. Typically the logarithmic scales come
withpartiallylabeleddivisions.AsampleisshowninFig.7.8.
Startingfromtheleft,weseelabelsfrom1to10,repeatedthreetimes.Eachsegment
labeledfrom1to10iscalledacycle.Thissamplehas3cycles.Thelabelingalready
printedonthepaperisforconvenienceonlytheusermustrelabeltheaxestosuitthe
data.
Forexample,supposeyouwanttoplotdatavaluesrangingfrom2unitsto800unitson

thisthreecyclelogscale.Thefirstcycleislabeled"asis"from1to9.Thesecondcycle
isrelabeled10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,and90.Thethirdcycleisrelabeled100,200,
etc.to1000.
Eachcyclecoversarangeofvaluesspanningonefactorof10.Thenextcyclecoversa
range10timeslarger,etc.Thevaluezerodoesnotappearonalogarithmicscale,for
log(0)=minusinfinity.
The"generic"labelingisdonedifferentlyondifferentbrandsofpaper.Somelabelthe
startofacyclewith"1"someuse"10".Somemark1.5and2.5somedon't.
The user has less freedom in labeling a log scale than a linear one. The scales are
directed,i.e.,oneway,andcannotbelabeledintheoppositedirection.
Theunderlyingprincipleofthelogscaleisthatlengthsalongthescaleareproportional
tothelogarithmsoftheplottedvalues.TheCandDscalesofsliderulesareconstructed
thesameway.
The user must carefully examine the markings of the scale to correctly interpret its
subdivisions.Someintervalshave10subdivisions,someonlyfive(everysecondoneof
thetenbeingshown).Errorsintheuseoflogpaperresultfromfailuretonoticethese
differencesinthewaysubdivisionsarelabeled.
Graph papers with one linear and one logarithmic scale are called semilogarithmic,
loglinear,orsimplylogarithmic.Graphpaperswithbothscaleslogarithmicarecalled
loglog,fulllog,orduallogarithmic.
As is evident from the 10 divisions of each cycle, these logarithmic scales represent
base10logarithms.
EXPONENTIALRELATIONSoftheform
y=Aex

[712]

whereAandareconstant,canberenderedasstraightlinesonsemilogpaper.Tosee
this,takethelogarithmofbothsidesof
y/A=ex

[713]

whichgives
logylogA=xloge=x(0.43420...)

[714]

Plotxonthelinearaxisandyonthelogarithmicaxis.Theresultingstraightlinewill
haveslope
logy2logy1
=loge

[715]

x2x1

fromwhichtheconstantmaybeeasilydetermined.
TheyinterceptofthegraphwillbethevalueoftheconstantA.
The slope of a line on logarithmic paper must be interpreted with care. It may be
evaluatedineitheroftwoways.
(1) Choose two wellseparated points on the line (x1, y1) and (x2, y2). Use these to
evaluatetheleftsideofequation(715).
(2) The value of the numerator of equation (715) may be found by length
measurementsonthegraph,sincethelogarithmsareproportionaltolengths.Measure
thelengthofonecycleonthepaper.Measurethelengthbetweeny2andy1.Then
L/C=log2ylog1y

[716]

whereListhelengthalongthelogaxisbetweenthetwopoints,andCisthelengthof
onecyclemeasuredalongthataxis.
Thisistruebecauseforonecycle,
log(10y)log(y)=log(10)=1.

[717]

This method makes it unnecessary to look up or evaluate the logarithms of the data
points.
Example: This graph happens to have cycles 4.15 cm
long. [Because of unavoidable size changes in the
reproduction process, the measurements we have made
on the original will be different from those on your
copy. Measurements made from your copy will,
howevergivethesamefinalvaluesofAand.]
Thevariablexisplottedonthehorizontalaxisandyis
plottedontheverticalaxis.
Whenx=0,theny=Ae0=A.Sotheyinterceptisthe
valueofA.Butx=0liesofftheedgeofthegraph,so
thiswouldnotbeagoodwaytofindthevalueofAin
thiscase.Letuspostponethisproblemandfirstfindthe
slope.

Fig.7.9.Semilogarithmic
graphpaper.

Choose two points on the line. I chose the points with values x=2 and x=7 on the
horizontalaxis.MarkthesepointsonyourcopyofFig.7.8.Theyhavevaluesofy=20
andy=500ontheverticalaxis.Arulershowsthat20and500areseparatedby5.85cm

vertically.
Theslopeofthelineis
5.85cm

4.15cm1.41
==0.2819=loge
725

[718]

andtherefore,sincelog(e)=0.4342945

0.2819

==0.6491
0.4343

[719]

The numerator on the left of Eq. 718 is dimensionless, so the units of will be the
reciprocaloftheunitsofx.
NowwecanevaluatetheconstantA.Takeanyvalueofxthatisonthegraph,sayx=
7.Fromthegraph,thisgivesy=500.Then
y500500
A====5.317
x794.04
ee

[720]

Sofinally,theequationthatrepresentsthiscurveis
y=5.317e(0.6491)x

[721]

Noticethatinthiswholeprocessweneverhadtotakealogarithmofanydatavalues.
EXERCISE(7.8)CheckEq.721byevaluatingyforx=3.4andcomparingtheresult
withthegraph.{Answer48.32theagreementisgood.}
EXERCISE(7.9)UseEq.721tocalculateyforx=6.2.Comparewiththegraph.
POWERRELATIONSoftheform
y=Kxp

[722]

mayberenderedstraightbyplottingonloglogpaper.Takethelogarithmofbothsides
logy=logK+plogx

[723]

Nowifyisplottedagainstxonloglogpaperwegetalineofslope
logy2logy1
=p
logx2logx1

[724]

where, as before, the points 1 and 2 are wellseparated points on the straight line.
Neitherintercept has any special, useful, meaning on this graph! (On log paper log x
neverhasazerovalue.)

We have several ways to calculate the slope, once we have specified two well
separatedpointsontheline,andobtainedequation(724).
(1)Evaluateequation(724)byexplicitcalculationofthelogarithms.
(2)Setuptherighttriangleandmeasurethelengthsofthelegs.Then,asbefore:
lengthofthe"y"leg

lengthofone"y"cycle
=p
lengthofthe"x"leg

lengthofone"x"cycle

[725]

Onmostlogloggraphpaper,thelengthsofthecyclesonthexandyaxesaresimply
related.Iftheyareequal,thentheslopeissimply
lengthofone"y"leg
=tan=p
lengthofthe"x"leg

[726]

Sointhisspecialcaseonemaysimplymeasuretheangle,,todeterminetheslope.
Example:Datathatplotsasastraight
line on loglog paper can always be
expressedbytherelation
y=Kxp

[727]

The constants K and p are to be

determined from the graph. Two
points have been chosen in Fig. 7.10
andflaggedwithcircles.Thesehappen
tohaveconvenientvaluesandarewell
separatedontheline.Theyare(2,300)
and(8,40).
The procedure is simplified here
becausethecyclesarethesamelength
on both axes. Therefore the slope is
simply the length ratio of the legs of
therighttriangleThatis:
y4.42cm
==0.5423=p
x8.15cm

Fig.7.10.Logloggraphpaper.

[728]

As a check, the slope angle, measured with a protractor, is 28, approximately. The
tangentofthisis0.5317.Consideringmeasurementerrorsonthissmallgraph,thisis
goodagreement.Inyourexperimentalwork,alwaysusethelargestpossibleareaofthe
graphpaper.

Therefore:
y=Kx0.5423

[729]

Now we can determine K be taking any point on the line and solving this equation.
Let'stakethepointx=2.Atthispointy=300.
x0.5423=0.6867
y
K==300/0.6867=436.9
x0.5423

[730]

Sotheequationofthislineis:
y=436.90.5423x

[731]

This expression shows more digits than is justified by the precision of measurements
from this size of graph. An examination of the actual data uncertainties would help
determinetheappropriateamountofroundingforKandp.
EXERCISE 7.10: Check Eq. 731 by calculating y at x=80 and compare with the
graph.{Answer:40.58}
EXERCISE 7.11: Check Eq. 731 by calculating y at x=29 and compare with the
graph.
EXERCISE7.12:UseEq.731tocalculatexfory=70.Comparewiththegraph.
OTHER RELATIONS. The above discussion covers only the most commonly
encountered cases. Other special graph papers are available, which can straighten out
graphsofmanykindsofrelations.Tolistafewpolarcoordinate,bipolarcoordinate,
elliptical,hyperbolic,Smithcharts(agridoforthogonalcircles).Ithasbeensuggested
as a joke that someone ought to print graph paper on rubber sheets, so you could
straightenoutanycurvebywarpingthegridlines!Butthatiswhatthesevariouspapers
do for you. They are only useful if the warping of the grid lines corresponds to an
accurately known mathematical relation that can be mathematically transformed back
toalineargrid.
RESCALINGLOGARITHMICSCALES.Wehavesofar
onlyconsideredrescalinglogscalesbymultiplyingeachscale
value by some factor of 10. This preserves the cycle length.
Otherlabelingsarepossible,butonemustexercisegreatcare
toavoidblundersinplotting.
(1) The scale values may be multiplied by any common
factor.Afactorof2or4iseasiesttodealwith.Thisoperation
preserves cycle length, but shifts the cycles along the axis.
Thiscanbeusefulwhenthedataspansonlyonefactorof10,

butwouldfallintwoadjacentdecades.SeeFig.7.11.
(2) The scale values may be raised to any common power.
This expands or contracts the cycle size. This can be useful
when you need two cycle paper but have only one cycle
paper. Raise all of the values printed along the scale to the
second power. See Fig. 7.12. This should be considered
strictlyan emergencyexpedient,neveracceptableinagraph
intendedforpublication.
Anotheremergencytrickistosplicethepaper.Supposeyou
haddatathatspannedonlyonefactorof10butspannedtwo
cyclesofthepaper.Forexample,thevaluesmightrangefrom
45 to 312. If you used two cycle paper, this graph would
occupylessthanhalfofthepaper.Ifyoucutonecyclepaper Fig.7.11.
at the "4" mark, it could be spliced together so that it reads
from40to400.
SLOPES ON LOGLOG PAPER. It
sometimeshappensthatthepowervalueinan
equationisknownorassumedthepurposeof
the graphical analysis is to find some other
parameteroftheequation.Itisthenjustifiable
to impose a straight line of the known slope
onto the data points. It is easiest to construct
linesofslopecorrespondingtointegerpowers
orreciprocalsofintegers.Supposeyouwanted
aslopeforpower2.Markthepoint(n2,n)and
connectittothepoint(1,1)withastraightline.
The number n can be any convenient value.
Suppose we take n = 2. Then mark the points
(4,2)and(1,1)andconnectthemwithastraight
line,whichwillhaveslope2.

Fig.7.12.

Fig.7.13.Slopeonduallogpaper.

Ifyouwantedthelinecorrespondingtoapower3,youmighttaken=2,thenn3=8.
Soconnectthepoints(8,2)and(1,1)withastraightline,whichwillhaveslope3.
Fig.7.13showsthis,forseveraldifferentvaluesofslope.
1999,2004,byDonaldE.Simanek.