Graphing Exponential Growth and Decay: Practice

This video continues with the idea of graphing exponential growth and decay functions when the equation for the function is given by looking at a couple more example problems from the Khan Academy exercise linked below.

The function can be compared to its general form, f(x) = a*b^x, where a is the value of the function when x = 0 and b is the base of the function. If b is greater than 1, the function exhibits exponential growth. If b is less than one, the function shows exponential decay.

The simplest way to graph the function is to make a table and plug in various x values to see what the y values or function values would be. Start with x = 0, then move to x = 1, and so on. It may be useful to plot some points on the graph when x is negative as well.

Khan Academy exercise to practice: