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growth and decay
- Thread starter egarcia
- Start date
egarcia said:Does the equation y = 5x represent growth or decay?
Since exponential growth or decay involves an exponent, I wonder if the "x" in your equation is an exponent. In other words, is THIS what your problem is?
y = 5[sup:1a8a2yht]x[/sup:1a8a2yht]
I would hesitate to answer until I know what you really mean.
egarcia said:yes x is representing an exponent
Ok...the "general form" for exponential growth or decay is
y = a * b[sup:b96em92h]x[/sup:b96em92h]
"a" represents the initial amount.
"b" represents the growth/decay factor. If b > 1, then you're dealing with GROWTH. If b < 1, you're dealing with DECAY.
Look at the value of "b" in your equation.....
egarcia said:
Yes, b = 5...and 5 > 1.
in the equation
y = a*b[sup:1hyr9wq5]x[/sup:1hyr9wq5]
if b > 1, you're dealing with exponential growth. If b < 1, you're dealing with exponential decay.
And you may want to re-read your textbook's explanation carefully. I'm sure this is explained and that many examples are given in your text.