First thing to do is to switch the x and the y and then solve for the new y. Easier said than done! Here's our equation with the switch: [tex]x=2 ^{y} +6[/tex]. We need to get that y out from inside that exponent. This is an exponential equation, and the inverse of an exponential equation is a log equation. Let's do some simplifying here first: [tex]x-6=2 ^{y} [/tex]. The 2 is now the base of our log (x-6) so now we have [tex]y=log _{2} (x-6)[/tex], which is the last choice above.