Original by Don Koks, 2017.

# Can you take the logarithm of a dimensioned quantity?

No, you can't.

This question has caused some angst in physics forums.  Functions such as $\log$, $\exp$, and $\sin$ are not defined for dimensioned quantities, and yet you will find expressions such as "$\log$ temperature" in physics text books.  Apparently somebody is taking the log of a dimensioned quantity, so what is going on?

Let's assume that maybe it's possible to take the logarithm of a dimensioned quantity.  First, we go back to first principles to see how a logarithm is defined.  The natural logarithm $\ln X$ is defined as the area under the curve $y = 1/x$ from $x = 1$ to $X$: $$\ln X \equiv \int_{x\,=\,1}^X {\mathrm{d}x\over x}\,.$$ This integral is the sum of an infinite number of terms "$\mathrm{d}x/x$", each of which is dimensionless.  That means the logarithm is also dimensionless.

Now suppose we set about attempting to take the logarithm of, say, 2 kilometres.  We presume that this is the area under the curve $y = 1/x$ from $x = 1$ km to $x = 2$ km.  Draw this curve by constructing an $x$ axis with its units in kilometres, and a $y$ axis with its units in kilometres$^{-1}$.  Now think "Riemann sum": draw two vertical bars (rectangles) across the interval from $x =$1 km to 2 km: a short bar of height 0.5 km$^{-1}$ , and a tall bar of height 1 km$^{-1}$.  Calculating their (dimensionless!) areas will show you straight away that the area under the curve is less than that of the tall bar ($1\text{ km}^{-1} \times 1\text{ km} = 1$), and more than that of the short bar ($0.5\text{ km}^{-1} \times 1\text{ km} = 0.5$).  Performing the relevant integral tells you that the dimensionless area is in fact $\ln 2 \simeq 0.69$.

How about we now try taking the logarithm of 2000 metres in the same way?  We presume that this is the area under the curve $y = 1/x$ from $x = 1$ metre to 2000 metres.  Draw this curve by constructing an $x$ axis with units of metres and a $y$ axis with units of metres$^{-1}$, and then calculate the area as above: draw a short bar and a tall bar across the interval from $x = 1$ m to 2000 m, and notice immediately that the area is less than that of the tall bar ($1\text{ m}^{-1} \times 1999\text{ m} = 1999$), and more than that of the short bar ($1/2000\text{ m}^{-1} \times 1999\text{ m} \simeq 1$).  Performing the relevant integral tells you that the dimensionless area is $\ln 2000 \simeq 7.6$, which certainly does lie between 1 and 1999.

We have ended up with $\ln (2\text{ km}) \simeq 0.69$ and $\ln (2000\text{ m}) \simeq 7.6$.

You might expect $\ln (2\text{ km})$ to equal $\ln (2000\text{ m})$, but apparently that's not the case.  This tells us immediately that taking the log of a dimensioned quantity as above is not useful, because the process doesn't respect a simple conversion from 2 km to 2000 m.  What happened here?  If we are to convert kilometres to metres, then shouldn't we really be saying that the area under $y = 1/x$ from $x = 1$ km to 2 km in fact equals the area under $y = 1/x$ from $x = 1000$ m to 2000 m?  Yes: the area from $x = 1000$ m to 2000 m is $\ln 2000 - \ln 1000 = \ln 2 \simeq 0.69$, just as we found when using kilometres.

The simple fact is that the definition of the logarithm as an integral is a definition using dimensionless numbers.  It doesn't "know" about dimensions, and so when we try to take the log of a dimensioned quantity, something is bound to break, as it did above.

The same ideas apply to other functions.  What about the exponential: can we give meaning to $\exp$ (2 km)? If we could, then we would notice that because the logarithm is dimensionless, we would have $$\ln \left(e^{2\text{ km}}\right)\text{ is dimensionless,}$$ and taking the $\exp$ of this (which we surely can do for dimensionless numbers!) would lead to $e^{2\text{ km}}$ being dimensionless.  But if $e^{2\text{ km}}$ is dimensionless, then apparently the exponential function cannot distinguish between $e^{2\text{ km}}$ and $e^{2\text{ m}}$.  That means it also can't distinguish between $e^{2000\text{ km}}$ and $e^{2000\text{ m}}$.  And that means we can expect $e^{2\text{ km}}$ to differ from $e^{2000\text{ m}}$: so, again, something has broken.  Just like the logarithm, the exponential function doesn't "know" about dimensions, and so when we try to include dimensions, things fall apart.

You might come across the following argument: "$e^{2\text{ m}}$ can make no sense, because it must be writable as the exponential series $$\exp (2\text{ m}) = 1 + 2\text{ m} + {2^2\text{ m}^2\over 2\textit{!}} + {2^3\text{ m}^3\over 3\textit{!}} + \dots\,,$$ and since we cannot add 1 to a metre to a square metre and so on, the series is undefined."  This looks reasonable, but in fact the situation is more complicated because the exponential series is a Taylor series, and each term of a Taylor series must have the same dimension.  For example, write $$\exp x = \exp 0 + \exp'(0) x + {\exp''(0) x^2\over 2\textit{!}} + \dots\,,$$ and now notice that $\exp'(x) = \mathrm{d}\exp x/\mathrm{d}x$, whose dimension is that of $\exp x$ divided by the dimension of length.  Similarly, the dimension of $\exp''(x) = \mathrm{d}\exp'(x)/\mathrm{d}x$ is the dimension of $\exp x$ divided by the dimension of length$^2$.  So if we insist on including dimensions everywhere, we are no longer able to say "$\exp'(x) = \exp x$".  The bottom line is that if we insist on allowing $\exp$ to be taken of dimensioned quantities, the calculus that we are so familiar with starts to crumble.

With all of that said, you will sometimes find the logarithm of a dimensioned quantity taken in textbooks.  Here's what is going on there.  Suppose we have some set-up involving heat flow in one dimension that's governed by the following differential equation: $${\mathrm{d}T\over \mathrm{d}x} = {c\over x}\,, \tag{1}$$ where $T$ is temperature, $x$ is distance from some origin, and c is a constant to be determined.  Write the above equation as $$\mathrm{d}T = c {\mathrm{d}x\over x}\,.\tag{2}$$ Now integrate both sides.  We cannot write "$T = c\ln x + \text{constant}$" because we cannot take the logarithm of $x$, since $x$ has dimension (of length).  In what follows, we will always only write the logarithm of a quantity that is dimensionless.  So notice that for any $x_0$ (with dimension of length), $${\mathrm{d}\over \mathrm{d}x} \ln {x\over x_0} = {x_0\over x}\times {1\over x_0} = {1\over x}\,.\tag{3}$$ That lets us integrate (2) to give $$T(x) = c \ln {x\over x_0} + c_1\,,\tag{4}$$ for some constant $c_1$.  Now set $x = x_0$ in (4): $$T(x_0) = c_1\,,$$ in which case (4) can be written as $$T(x) = c \ln {x\over x_0} + T(x_0)\,.\tag{5}$$

Now, suppose we measure the temperature at $x = 10$ m to be $T = 10$ K.  Set $x_0 = 10$ m in (5): $$T(x) = c \ln {x\over 10\text{ m}} + 10\text{ K}\,.\tag{6}$$ We don't yet know the value of $c$, so we make another measurement: e.g. we measure the temperature at $x = 20$ m to be $T = 20$ K.  Substitute these into (6) to give \begin{align} 20\text{ K} &= c\ln{20\text{ m}\over 10\text{ m}} + 10\text{ K}\\[1ex] &= c\ln 2 + 10\text{ K}\,, \end{align} in which case $$c = {10\text{ K}\over \ln 2} \simeq 14.4\text{ K}\,.$$ Now substitute this value of $c$ into (6) to give the sought-after expression for temperature $T$ as a function of position $x$: $$T(x) = \left(14.4 \ln{x\over 10\text{ m}}+10\right)\text{ K}\,.\tag{7}$$ We can divide both sides of (7) by 1 kelvin to write $${T(x)\over 1\text{ K}} = 14.4\ln {x\over 10\text{ m}}+10\,.\tag{8}$$

Equations (7) or (8) are the solution to the original problem of calculating the temperature $T(x)$.  But study carefully what we can do next.  Always ensuring we take the logarithm only of dimensioned quantities, (8) can be written as \begin{align} {T(x)\over 1\text{ K}} &= 14.4\ln{x/(1\text{ m})\over 10\text{ m}/(1\text{ m})} + 10\\[1ex] &= 14.4\ln{x\over 1\text{ m}} - 14.4 \ln 10 + 10\\[1ex] &= 14.4\ln{x\over 1\text{ m}} - 23.2\,.\tag{9} \end{align}

Now, think of what division means: just as the expression 6/2 denotes the number of 2s in 6 (i.e. 3), so also $x/(1\text{ m})$ means "the number of metres in $x$", i.e. "$x$ expressed in metres".  Similarly, $T/(1\text{ K})$ means "$T$ expressed in kelvins".  So (9) can be written as $$T\text{ expressed in kelvins} = 14.4 \ln (x\text{ expressed in metres}) - 23.2\,.\tag{10}$$

Now if we agree to use the above units—that is, SI units (but we could've used any other system of units instead)—then we can all agree to abbreviate (10) to $$T = 14.4 \ln x - 23.2\,.\tag{11}$$

This is how the solution to (1) [for the two data points we mentioned above, ($x = 10$ m, $T = 10$ K) and ($x = 20$ m, $T = 20$ K)] would be written in many physics books, where the caveat "where $T$ and $x$ are expressed in SI units" may or may not be added.  So the $x$ in (11) really means "$x$ expressed in metres", which is a pure number: the number of metres in $x$, so it's dimensionless.  And likewise, the $T$ in (11) really means "$T$ expressed in kelvins".  So although it looks as if we are taking the log of a dimensioned quantity $x$, in fact we are not, because $x$ is no longer a length; rather, it's the number of metres in the length that we started out calling $x$.  If that's confusing, I'm not defending it here; it's just what some books do.  But provided we all know the game that's being played, there's no real problem.

You can also see that if you return to (2) and integrate it by pretending that $T$ and $x$ are pure numbers, you will get $$T = c \ln x + c_1\,.$$ If you now mandate that $T$ and $x$ are to be expressed in SI units and make use of the two measured data points, you will eventually arrive at (11) again.  This is, in fact, what most (if not all) textbooks actually do.  And maybe it's a pity they do that, because whereas that approach is quick and direct, it leaves many readers thinking, incorrectly, that the logarithm has been taken of a dimensioned quantity.

Now suppose you have some data of $(x, T)$, and you wish to test the validity of the theory that produced the differential equation (1).  Referring to (9), you wish to plot $T/(1\text{ K})$ versus $\ln [x/(1\text{ m})]$, then measure the slope to find that it has value 14.4 (dimensionless!), with a "$y$-intercept" of $-23.2$ (dimensionless!).  How will you label your axes?

Your horizontal axis is $\ln [x/(1\text{ m})]$, which is dimensionless.  Just label it as "$\ln [x/(1\text{ m})]$", and there are no units needing to be written here.  Your vertical axis is $T/(1\text{ K})$.  That's dimensionless too, and you can label it "$T/(1\text{ K})$".  You can also label it "$T$ (kelvins)", while realising that now you are plotting $T$, which has a dimension—in which case your slope will now have units of kelvins.  You have this freedom in what to plot on the vertical axis, but don't label your horizontal axis with anything like "$\ln x$ (log metres)", because this is simply wrong: (a) "$\ln x$" for $x$ dimensioned is not defined, and (b) there is no such unit as a "log metre".  Unfortunately, you will find occurrences of similar wrong units in some place or other, written by someone who doesn't realise that they are really plotting $\ln [x/(1\text{ m})]$ and not $\ln x$.  (If you look carefully, you can even see "log kelvins" next to a plot on a whiteboard in an episode of the TV series "The Big Bang Theory".)

The take-home message here is that the correct way to convert the sentence "$A$ is measured in metres" (or whatever unit you wish to write here) into maths is to write the dimensionless quantity "$A/(1\text{ m})$".  That's a fraction like any other, and it can be treated completely analytically.  Try using it to convert something from metres to, say, inches.

Finally, don't waste any time trying to extend the definition of the logarithm by experimenting with statements such as "$\ln (2\text{ m}) = \ln 2 + \ln (\text{m})$", as some try to do.  Once you have finished getting nowhere with that, how will you then tackle "$\sin (1\text{ m})$"?  The simple fact is that no function needs its definition extended to cope with units, because the standard functions used throughout physics—which all act on dimensionless numbers—are always sufficient for any job involving units, just as the logarithm is.