A Brief Intro to Logarithmic Plots

A straight line on a logarithmic plot means a growth rate that is exponential. This exponential growth rate means a fast growth which doubles and then doubles again. I have annotated the plot below to show you how you can read a logarithmic plot faster and more easily.

A logarithmic plot is one in which every vertical interval increases by a power of 10. So while the y axis of a standard plot increments like so 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 … the y axis of a logarithmic chart increments 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000. To keep from writing many extra zeros scientists might sometimes use scientific / exponential notation in which the exponent indicates the number of trailing zeros. In this notation 10⁰ represents 1, 10¹ represents 10, 10² represents 100, and so on.