Basic maths question re generator functions

From: Ken Yasumoto-Nicolson (ken_nicolson_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 12/02/03 

Date: 1 Dec 2003 23:54:31 -0800

I hope this is the best place to ask this sort of question, but I'm
reading Bruce Schneier's Applied Cryptography book, and in the section
11.3 Number Theory, he presents the equation:

g^a mod p = b

for a generator g and prime p, so that b can be calculated easily for
given values of a. However, what I'd like to do is calculate a given
b. Can this equation be rewritten in terms of b? g will not
necessarily be 2. My grasp of the maths required is not very good at
all, so forgive me if the answer's something blatently obvious!

Thanks

Ken

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