Exponents

Exponential functions
Exponential Equation Activity
Properties of Exponential
Function
 x
Graph of f ( x)  2
 Use a table to graph the exponential
function above. Note: x is a real
number and can be replaced with
numbers such as 2 as well as
other irrational numbers. We will use
integer values for x in the table:
Table of values
 

x y

-4 1 1
24  4

2
1 16
 -3 23 
8
 -2 2 1
2 
4
 -1 1 1
2 
2
 0 0
2 1
 1
21  2
 2
2
2 4
 x
Graph of y = f ( x )  2
Transformations Involving
Exponential Functions
Characteristics of the graphs of f ( x)  b x

where b> 1

 1. all graphs will approach the x-axis as x gets large.

 2. all graphs will pass through (0,1) (y-intercept)
 3. There are no x – intercepts.
 4. Domain is all real numbers
 5. Range is all positive real numbers.
 6.
The graph is always increasing on its domain.
 7. All graphs are continuous curves.
Graphs of f ( x)  b x if 0 < b < 1
 1. all graphs will approach the x-axis as x gets large.
 2. all graphs will pass through (0,1) (y-intercept)
 3. There are no x – intercepts.
 4. Domain is all real numbers
 5. Range is all positive real numbers.
 6.
The graph is always decreasing on its domain.
 7. All graphs are continuous curves.
 1 x
Graph of f ( x)  2  x
2
 Using a table of values once again, you will obtain the following graph.
x
The graphs of f ( x )  b and f ( x )  b  x will be symmetrical with
respect to the y-axis, in general.

12

10

8
graph of y = 2^(-x)
6
approaches the positive x-axis as x gets large
4

2 passes through (0,1)

0
-4 -2 0 2 4
Graphing other exponential
functions
x
 Now, let’s graph f ( x)  3

 Proceeding as before, we construct a

table of values and plot a few
points.Be careful not to assume that
the graph crosses the negative x-
axis. Remember, it gets close to the
x-axis, but never intersects it.
 x
Preliminary graph of f ( x)  3
Complete graph
30
y = 3^x
25

20

15 Series1

10

0
-4 -2 0 2 4
Other exponential graphs
 This is the graph of
x
f ( x)  4
 It is symmetric to the
graph of f ( x )  4 x
 with respect to the y-
axis
 Notice that it is always
decreasing.
 It also passes through
(0,1).
Exponential function with base e
 The table to the left
1 2 illustrates what happens
to the expression
10 2.59374246 x
 1
( 1  
100 2.704813829
1  x
+
1000 2.716923932
1  as x gets increasingly
/ larger. As we can see
x
10000 2.718145927 from the table, the values
)
approach a number
^
whose approximation is
1000000 2.718280469
x
2.718
Leonard Euler
x
 Leonard Euler first demonstrated that  1
1  
 x
 will approach a fixed constant we now call “e”.
 So much of our mathematical notation is due to Euler
that it will come as no surprise to find that the
notation e for this number is due to him. The claim
which has sometimes been made, however, that Euler
used the letter e because it was the first letter of his
name is ridiculous. It is probably not even the case
that the e comes from "exponential", but it may have
just be the next vowel after "a" and Euler was already
using the notation "a" in his work. Whatever the
reason, the notation e made its first appearance in a
letter Euler wrote to Goldbach in 1731.
 (http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/e.html#s19)
Leonard Euler
 He made various discoveries
regarding e in the following
years, but it was not until 1748
when Euler published
Introductio in Analysis in
infinitorum that he gave a full
treatment of the ideas
surrounding e. He showed that
 e = 1 + 1/1! + 1/2! + 1/3!
+ ...

 and that e is the limit of

 (1 + 1/n)^n as n tends to
infinity. Euler gave an
approximation for e to 18
decimal places,
 e = 2.718281828459045235
 x
Graph of f ( x)  e
graph of y = e^x  Graph is similar to
25 the graphs of
20 f ( x)  2 x
15
 and
10
Series1 f ( x )  3x
5 Has same
characteristics as
0
-4 -2 0 2 4 these graphs
Growth and Decay applications
 The atmospheric pressure p  Find the pressure at
decreases with increasing sea level ( h =1)
height. The pressure is
related to the number of
kilometers h above the sea
level by the formula:
 Find the pressure at
P (h)  760e 0.145 h a height of 7
kilometers.
Solution:
 Find the pressure at  Find the pressure at
sea level ( h =1) a height of 7
kilometers

P (1)  760e 0.145(1)

 657.42 P(7)  760e 0.145(7)  275.43
Depreciation of a machine
 A machine is initially  Solution:
worth V dollars
0
 but loses 10% of its V (t )  V0 (0.9t )
value each year. Its
value after t years is
given by the formula V (8)  30000(0.98 )  $12,914
t
V (t )  V0 (0.9 )
 Find the value after 8
years of a machine
whose initial value is
$30,000
Compound interest
 The compound interest formula is
nt
 r
A  P 1  
 n
 Here, A is the future value of the
investment, P is the initial amount
(principal), r is the annual interest
rate as a decimal, n represents the
number of compounding periods per
year and t is the number of years
Problem:
 Find the amount to which $1500 will grow if deposited in
a bank at 5.75% interest compounded quarterly for 5
years.

 Solution: Use the compound interest formula:

nt
 r
A  P 1  
  n Substitute 1500 for P, r = 0.0575,
 n = 4 and t = 5 to obtain
(4)(5)
 0.0575 
A  1500 1    =$1995.55
 4 