Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
College Algebra
Tutorial 47:
Exponential Growth and Decay
Learning Objectives
Introduction
In this tutorial I will step you through how to solve problems that deal in
exponential growth and decay. These problems will require you to know how to
evaluate exponential expressions and solve exponential equations. If you need a
review on these topics, feel free to go to Tutorial 42: Exponential Functions
and Tutorial 45: Exponential Equations. Ready, set, GO!!!!!
Tutorial
Exponential Growth
, (k > 0)
Ao represents the initial amount of the growing entity. Note that this is the
amount when t = 0.
t is the amount of time that has past. If the information for time is given in
dates, you need to convert it to how much time has past since the initial time.
For example, if the model is set up at an initial year of 2000 and you need to
find out what the value is in the year 2010, t would be 2010 - 2000 = 10 years.
You can use this formula to find any of its variables, depending on the
information given and what is being asked in a problem. For example, you may
be given the values for Ao and t and you need to find the amount A after the
given time. Or, you may be given the final amount A and the initial amount Ao
and you need to find the time t.
Since we are looking for the population, what variable are we seeking?
If you said A you are right on!!!!
The way the problem is worded, 1994 is what we call our initial year.
This is when t = 0.
*Replace t with 0
*e^0 simplifies to be 1
When writing up the final answer, keep in mind that the problem said
that the population was in thousands.
Another way that we could have approached this problem was noting
that the year was 1994, which is our initial year, so basically it was
asking us for the initial population, which is Ao in the formula. This
happens to be the number in front of e which is 30 in this problem.
The reason I showed you using the formula was to get you use to it.
Just note that when it is the initial year, t is 0, so you will have e raised
to the 0 power which means it will simplify to be 1 and you are left
with whatever Ao is.
Since we are looking for the population, what variable are we finding?
If you said A give yourself a high five.
Our initial year is 1994, and since t represents years after 1994, we can
get t from 2005 - 1994, which would be 11.
*Replace t with 11
Again, when writing up the final answer, keep in mind that the problem
said that the population was in thousands.
Looks like we have a little twist here. Now we are given the population
and we need to first find t to find out how many years after 1994 we are
talking about and then convert that knowledge into the actual year.
We will still be using the same formula we did to answer the questions
above, we will just be using it to find a different variable.
This means a little over 35 years after 1994, the population will be 60
thousand.
Since t is measured in years since 2002, the model indicates that the
population will reach 200000 in year 2002 + 4 = 2006.
Exponential Decay
, (k < 0)
Ao represents the initial amount of the growing entity. Note that this is the
amount when t = 0.
t is the amount of time that has past. If the information for time is given in
dates, you need to convert it to how much time has past since the initial time.
For example, if the model is set up at an initial year of 2000 and you need to
find out what the value is in the year 2010, t would be 2010 - 2000 = 10 years.
You can use this formula to find any of its variables, depending on the
information given and what is being asked in a problem. For example, you may
be given the values for Ao and t and you need to find the amount A after the
given time. Or, you may be given the final amount A and the initial amount Ao
and you need to find the time t.
If we are looking for the half-life of this isotope, what variable are we
seeking? If you said t you are correct!!!!
It looks like we don’t have any values to plug into A or Ao. However,
the problem did say that we were interested in the HALF-life, which
would mean ½ of the initial amount (Ao) would be present at the end
(A) of that time. This means A can be replaced with .5Ao.
Since we are looking for the age of the paintings, what variable are we
looking for? If you said t you are correct!!!!
It looks like we don’t have any values to plug into A or Ao. However,
the problem did say that the paintings that were found contained 20%
of the original carbon-14. This means A can be replaced with .2Ao
(20% of the original).
Practice Problems
These are practice problems to help bring you to the next level. It will allow
you to check and see if you have an understanding of these types of problems.
Math works just like anything else, if you want to get good at it, then you
need to practice it. Even the best athletes and musicians had help along the
way and lots of practice, practice, practice, to get good at their sport or
instrument. In fact there is no such thing as too much practice.
To get the most out of these, you should work the problem out on your own
and then check your answer by clicking on the link for the
answer/discussion for that problem. At the link you will find the answer as
well as any steps that went into finding that answer.
(answer/discussion to 1a)
A) How many grams of carbon-14 will be present in this artifact after 25,000
years?
B) What is the half-life of carbon-14?
(answer/discussion to 1b)
The following are webpages that can assist you in the topics that were
covered on this page:
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/expoprob2.htm
This webpage will help you with exponential growth problems.
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/expoprob3.htm
This webpage will help you with exponential decay problems.
All contents copyright (C) 2002, WTAMU and Kim Peppard. All rights reserved.
Last revised on October 22, 2006 by Kim Peppard.