Free Professional Development
To develop an understanding of exponential growth and exponential decay: how to determine which is which, and how to figure out a problem involving growth and decay.
We go over the basics of exponential growth and decay and then a couple sample problems.
Co-author: Rachel Kaplan
Exponential Growth: a function or model which begins increasing at a very slow rate, then keeps growing faster and faster; functions in the form of y = P(1 + r)t
Exponential Decay: a function or model which begins decreasing at a very slow rate, then keeps declining faster and faster; functions in the form of y = P(1 - r)t
y = P(1±r)t: the function that determines exponential growth and exponential decay; for exponential growth, use a "+", and for decay, use a "-"; P is the initial amount started with, r is the rate of growth/decay, and t is the period of time; also, remember that the t is also the x-value
