well I also have troubles but ill explain it as I have come to understand it, hope it helps
ok 1x10^-2 when you do a log of that its 2
-Log 1x10^-3 = 3
-Log 1x10^-4 = 4
-Log 1x10^-5 = 5
Anyway when you throw in some other numbers instead of 1 it changes it up
-Log 1x10^-3 = 3
-Log 5x10^-3 = 2.5 (roughly actually =2.3)
-Log 9x10^-3 = 2 (its just over 2, really 2.04)
Does this help at all?