Lesson Objective: Draw graphs of exponential functions of the form y = ka x and understand ideas of exponential growth and decay

Starter Suppose you have a choice of two different jobs at graduation – Start at £20,000 with a 6% per year increase – Start at £24,000 with £1000 per year raise Which should you choose? – One is linear growth – One is exponential growth

Which Job? How do we get each next value for Option A? When is Option A better? When is Option B better? Rate of increase a constant £1000 Rate of increase changing – Percent of increase is a constant – Ratio of successive years is 1.06 YearOption AOption B 020,000.00£24, ,200.00£25, ,472.00£26, ,820.32£27, ,249.54£28, ,764.51£29, ,370.38£30, ,072.61£31, ,876.96£32, ,789.58£33, ,816.95£34, ,965.97£35, ,243.93£36, ,658.57£37, ,218.08£38, ,931.16£39, ,807.03£40, ,855.46£41, ,086.78£42, ,511.99£43,000

General Formula All exponential functions have the general format: y = ka x Where – k = initial value – a = growth factor (a>1) or decay factor (0<a<1) – x = number of time periods Option A y = 20000x1.06 x Option A y = x

Exponential functions In an exponential function, the variable is in the index. For example: The general form of an exponential function to the base a is: y = a x where a > 0 and a ≠1. You have probably heard of exponential increase and decrease or exponential growth and decay. A quantity that changes exponentially either increases or decreases increasingly rapidly as time goes on. y = 2 x y = 5 x y = 0.1 x y = 0.5 x y = 7 x

Let’s examine exponential functions. They are different than any of the other types of functions we’ve studied because the independent variable is in the exponent. Let’s look at the graph of this function by plotting some points. x 2 x /2 -2 1/4 -3 1/ Recall what a negative exponent means: BASE

Reflected about y-axisThis equation could be rewritten in a different form: So if the base of our exponential function is between 0 and 1 (which will be a fraction), the graph will be decreasing. It will have the same domain, range, intercepts, and asymptote. There are many occurrences in nature that can be modeled with an exponential function. To model these we need to learn about a special base.

In both cases the graph passes through (0, 1) and (1, a). This is because: a 0 = 1 and a 1 = a for all a > 0. When 0 < a < 1 the graph of y = a x has the following shape: y x 1 1 When b > 1 the graph of y = a x has the following shape: y x (1, a)

General Formula All exponential functions have the general format: y = ka x Where – k = initial value – a = growth factor (a>1) or decay factor (0<a<1) – x = number of time periods

Compound interest

The car costs £ in How much will it be worth in 2018? To decrease the value by 18% we multiply it by After 8 years the value of the car will be £ × =£4905 (to the nearest pound) The value of a new car depreciates at a rate of 15% a year. There are 8 years between 2010 and y = 24000x0.82 x

Exponential Modeling Population growth often modeled by exponential function Half life of radioactive materials modeled by exponential function

Decreasing Exponentials Consider a medication – Patient takes 100 mg – Once it is taken, body filters medication out over period of time – Suppose it removes 15% of what is present in the blood stream every hour At end of hourAmount remaining 1100x0.85 = x0.85x0.85 = Fill in the rest of the table What is the decay factor?

Decreasing Exponentials Completed chart Graph Growth Factor = 0.85 Note: when growth factor < 1, exponential is a decreasing function Growth Factor = 0.85 Note: when growth factor < 1, exponential is a decreasing function

Each year the local country club sponsors a tennis tournament. Play starts with 128 participants. During each round, half of the players are eliminated. How many players remain after 5 rounds?

Why study exponential functions? Population growth Banking and finance Compute compound interest Whenever quantities grow or shrink by a constant factor, such as in radioactive decay, Depreciation Medicine provides another common situation where exponential functions give an appropriate model. If you take some medicine, the amount of the drug in your system generally decreases over time. An understanding of exponential functions will aid you in analyzing data particularly in growth and decay

General Formula All exponential functions have the general format: y = ka x Where – k = initial value – a = growth factor (a>1) or decay factor (0<a<1) – x = number of time periods