My book doesn't explain how to do these problems.. The examples they tell me to refer to have no relevance whatsoever.

Any help would be appreciated.

Use the power property to rewrite each expression.
17. log_3(x)^2

18. log_2(x)^5

19. log_4(5)^-1

20. log_6(7)^-2

say you wanted to multiply x by x using logs

You would add log x to log x
which would be 2 log x
so I claim that log x^2 = 2 log x

Similarly log x^5 = log x + log x + log x + log x + log x = 5 log x

log 5^-1 = -1 log 5 = - log 5

log 7^-2 = -2 log 7