asak: How would I go about simplifying 5^x=72? I'm very confused
You take the log of both sides. You always to this if it is an exponent (power) that you are trying to find.
then you use the log identity
log (a)
n = n*log(a)
You can use any base that you please but since the calculator only deals with base 10 and base e it is usually best to choose one of those (that is assuming you want to estimate your answer.)
+118653 
