3.8Inverse Functions

Going from pH back to [H3O⁺] means recognizing 10^x as the inverse of log₁₀ — the worked example literally calls 10^(−7.3) the antilog, or the ‘inverse’ log, of −7.3 — and a student who has never met f⁻¹(f(x)) = x as a general idea has no reason to believe exponentiating undoes a logarithm rather than, say, squaring it.