Exponential growth and decay problems follow the model given
Last updated: 5/23/2023
Exponential growth and decay problems follow the model given by the equation A t Pert The model is a function of time t A t is the amount we have after time t P is the initial amount because for t 0 notice how A 0 Pe t Pe P r is the growth or decay rate It is positive for growth and negative for decay Growth and decay problems can deal with money interest compounded continuously bacteria growth radioactive decay population growth etc So A t can represent any of these depending on the problem Practice The growth of a certain bacteria population can be modeled by the function A t 850e0 0523 where A t is the number of bacteria and represents the time in minutes a What is the initial number of bacteria the nearest whole number of bacteria round to b What is the number of bacteria after 25 minutes round to the nearest whole number of bacteria c How long will it take for the number of bacteria to double your answer must be accurate to at least 3 decimal places