7.6 Growth, decay and financial models
Unit 7 · Exponential and logarithmic functions
Ideas in this lesson
Percentage growth and decay
Use a decimal rate and multiply the initial amount by the growth or decay factor once per period.
Compound interest
Match the number of compounding periods and the rate per period; distinguish balance from interest earned.
Continuous growth
Use the natural exponential for a continuously compounded model; keep the rate and time units consistent.
Half-life and doubling time
The elapsed time divided by the doubling time or half-life counts the number of repeated factors.
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