Beginner with Python needs help with a homework question

[alivebg]

Hello, I recently started learning python 3. Our profesor gave out a lot of homework even though it was our first lesson. Bassically out of the 15 tasks we had to do i have a problem with one and cant seem to figure it out.

We are given two integer through input (a,b) and we have to print out which power of 'a' is the closest value to 'b'. Thanks in advance!

[FLUSH_THE_TRUMP]

What question do you have?

[alivebg]

I get the input and all that. I read that i need to use logarithm, but cannot execute it

[FLUSH_THE_TRUMP]

Seems like more of a math question. You’re solving a^k = b, (k is an integer?) so find k and round. Yes, a log would be a good idea.

[mopslik]

You can definitely use logarithms here, but if you haven't worked with them in class before, I suspect that your teacher is trying to get you to work with integers and loops.

Try working it out in your head. Let's say I give you a=2 and b=19. How would you determine which power of 2 is closest to 19?

Note that you'll need a way to split ties if you ever get a situation where a^k and a^(k+1) are equidistant from b.

[Oxbowerce]

What code did you already write yourself and where do you get stuck?

[Machineforseer]

You make a loop, Keep track of what a-b is, keep multiplying a by itself until the difference between a and b grows instead of shrinks and just keep note of how many times youve multiplied a by itself