Regular text between equations in math align mode

Question

I am using the align environment to create aligned numbered equations. I would like to add some regular text in between some equations (for the purpose of explaining the next step). Something like this:

                   f(x) = abc (1)
                        = def (2)
We now apply the mathematic property of foobar to achieve a new form.
                        = xyz (3)

I have tried the following:

\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{align}
    f(x)    &= abc\\
            &= def\\
\text{Using the property of logarithms that $x^{\log_x y} = y$, we can rewrite $P(w)$ to be $e^{\log P(w)}$.}\\ 
            &= xyz
\end{align}

Which produces this output:

I would like:

1. The text line to be centered (not aligned to the left of the = sign)
2. The text line not to have an equation number.

Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Here are two ways, using \clap or \shortintertext, both from mathtools:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry} 
\usepackage{mathtools}
\begin{document}
\begin{align}
    f(x) &= abc\
            &= def\
\clap{Using the property of logarithms that $x^{\log_x y} = y$, we can rewrite $P(w)$ to be $e^{\log P(w)}$.}\notag\
            &= xyz
\end{align}
\begin{align}
    f(x) &= abc\
            &= def\
\shortintertext{\centering Using the property of logarithms that $x^{\log_x y} = y$, we can rewrite $P(w)$ to be $e^{\log P(w)}$.}
            &= xyz
\end{align}
\end{document}