a. The given equation is:

The first step is adding 5 to both sides:

The next step is to apply logarithm to both sides (Kim didn't do it and it is a mistake):

Apply the properties of logarithms:

Divide both sides by log 10 and solve for x:

The mistake that Kim made was not using the logarithm in the second step.
b. Solve for x:

We can relate logarithms to exponential function as follows:

Then, we can say that:

Kim applied the wrong formula and made a^b=n, that was the mistake.
And now we can solve for x:
