Graphing Exponential Growth/Decay

Graphing Exponential Growth/Decay

 

Define : Any quantity that grows or decays by a fixed percent at regular intervals is said to possess exponential growth or exponential decay.

 

 

 

Example:

when a > 0 and the b is between 0 and 1, the graph will be decreasing (decaying).

For this example, each time x is increased by 1, y decreases to one half of its previous value.

Such a situation is called Exponential Decay.

 

Example:

when a > 0 and the b is greater than 1, the graph will be increasing (growing).

For this example, each time x is increased by 1, y increases by a factor of 2.

Such a situation is called Exponential Growth.