Professional Documents
Culture Documents
4 Exponential Growth
Glacier National Park, Montana and Decay
Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2004 Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington
The number of bighorn sheep in a population increases at
a rate that is proportional to the number of sheep present
(at least for awhile.)
dy
ky
dt
dy
ky Rate of change is proportional
dt to the amount present.
1
dy k dt Divide both sides by y.
y
1
y dy k dt Integrate both sides.
ln y kt C
1
y dy k dt Integrate both sides.
ln y kt C
ln y kt C
e e Exponentiate both sides.
ln y kt C
Exponentiate both sides.
e e
When multiplying like bases, add
y e e C kt
exponents. So added exponents
can be written as multiplication.
y e e C kt
y Ae kt
Since eC is a constant, let e
C
A.
y e e
C kt
y Ae kt
Since eC is a constant, let e
C
A.
1
k 0
y0 Ae At t 0 , y y0 .
y0 A
Continuously Compounded Interest
Of course, the bank does not employ some clerk to
continuously calculate your interest with an adding machine.
kt
r
We could calculate: lim A0 1
k
k
but we won’t learn how to find this limit until chapter 8.
A A0 e rt
Half-life
1 kt
y0 y0 e
2
1
ln ln e kt
2
0
ln1 ln 2 kt
Half-life:
ln 2 kt
ln 2
ln 2 half-life
t k
k
Newton’s Law of Cooling
Espresso left in a cup will cool to the temperature of the
surrounding air. The rate of cooling is proportional to the
difference in temperature between the liquid and the air.
(It is assumed that the air temperature is constant.)
dT
If we solve the differential equation: k T Ts
dt
we get:
Newton’s Law of Cooling
T Ts T0 Ts e kt