In mathematics, the logarithm is the inverse operation to exponentiation. That means the logarithm of a number is the exponent to which another fixed value, the base, must be raised to produce that number. In simple cases the logarithm counts repeated multiplication. For example, the base 10 logarithm of 1000 is 3, as 10 to the power 3 is 1000 (1000 = 10 × 10 × 10 = 10); the multiplication is repeated three times. More generally, exponentiation allows any positive real number to be raised to any real power, always producing a positive result, so the logarithm can be calculated for any two positive real numbers b and x where b is not equal to 1. The logarithm of x to base b, denoted log_b(x), is the unique real number y such that