Final answer:
The common logarithm of 42 is approximately 1.7782.
Step-by-step explanation:
The common logarithm of a number is the exponent to which 10 must be raised to obtain that number. In this case, we want to calculate log(42), which means we need to find the exponent to which 10 must be raised to obtain 42.
Since 42 lies between 10 and 100, which have logarithms of 1 and 2, respectively, the logarithm of 42 will be between 1 and 2. We can estimate the value using the given reference information: log(42) ≈ 1.7782.
Therefore, the common logarithm of 42 is approximately 1.7782.