In mathematics, for given real numbers a and b, the logarithm log_b a is a number x such that b^x = a. Analogously, in any group G, powers b^k can be defined for all integers k, and the discrete logarithm log_b a is an integer k such that b^k = a. In number theory, the more commonly used term is index: we can write x = ind_r a (mod m) (read "the index of a to the base r modulo m") for r^x ≡ a (mod m) if r is a primitive root of m and gcd(a,m) = 1.

Discrete logarithms are quickly computable in a few special cases. However, no efficient method is known for computing them in general. Several important algorithms in public-key cryptography, such as ElGamal base their security on the assumption that the discrete logarithm problem over carefully chosen groups has no efficient solution.