Yes, Mathematician, that is when you take the log of both sides.
$$\\log3^x=log(1/81)\\
xlog3=log(1/81)\\
x=log(1/81)/log(3)\\$$
$${\frac{{log}_{10}\left({\frac{{\mathtt{1}}}{{\mathtt{81}}}}\right)}{{log}_{10}\left({\mathtt{3}}\right)}} = -{\mathtt{3.999\: \!999\: \!999\: \!999\: \!999\: \!9}}$$
there is a little rounding error - its not a problem but it is more elegant to do it by hand if you can.