Example 4
Two analysts at a company have collected data on the sales performance for the year. The first analyst describes his data with an equation, while the second analyst puts his data into a table. They both describe sales growth as “exponential,” and this makes the board of directors very happy. In each model, is the revenue in thousands of dollars, while is the quarter of the year. Are they correct in saying their data describe exponential functions? If not, what are they? What would an exponential function look like?
1. Check if the data is exponential.
2. Determine what kind of function the equation represents.
3. Determine the type of function for the second data set.
4. Show an example of an exponential function.
This applet is provided by Walch Education as supplemental material for their mathematics programs. Visit www.walch.com for more information.