3.

1:ExponentialFunctions
Anexponentialfunctionfwithbasebisdefinedby,
wherebisapositiveconstantotherthan1(b>0,b 1),
andxisanyrealnumber.

Tographanexponentialfunction,wecanmakeatableofcoordinates.
Rememberthatxcanbeanyrealnumber,sowecanusevaluesforxofour
choice.
Ex.Graphthefunctionsbelowbycompletingthetablesandplottingthepoints.

Justaswiththegraphsofothertypesoffunctions,thegraphsofexponential
functionscanhavetransformationsappliedtothem,includingshifts,
reflections,stretches,andcompressions.
Describehowthegraphofeachfunctionbelowwoulddifferfromthegraph
ofy=bx.

Graphthefunctionsy=exandy=2xonyourcalculatorand
comparethem.
Oneoftheapplicationsofexponentialfunctionsinvolves
compoundinterest,whichisinterestcomputedonanoriginal
investmentplusontheaccumulatedinterest.
Ifinterestiscompoundedaspecificnumberoftimesperyear,the
formulausedis,wherenisthenumberoftimes
interestiscompoundedannually,ristheinterestrate,Pisthe
principal,andtisthetimeinyears.
Ifinterestiscompoundedcontinuously,theformulausedis
,withthevariablesrepresentingthesamequantitiesas
inthepreviousformula.
2

Usetheappropriateformulatofindtheaccumulatedvalueofan
investmentafter30yearsif$5000isinvestedat2.8%interest,
compounded
a)annually

b)quarterly

c)monthly

d)weekly

e)daily

f)continuously

Thepopulationofacertaincountry(inmillions)ismodeledbythe
functionbelow,wherexrepresentsthenumberofyearsafter1960.
f(x)=3.5(1.014)x
a)Determinethepopulationofthecountryin1960.

b)Determinethepopulationofthecountryin2000.

c)Determinethecountry'scurrentpopulation.