1.

3 Exponential Functions

Acadia National Park, Maine

Photo by Vickie Kelly, 2008

Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland, Washington

Although some of todays lecture is from the

book, some of it is not. You must take notes to
be successful in calculus.

We will be using the TI-89 calculator in this class.

You may use either the TI-89 Titanium or the older TI-89.

The pictures in the lectures will

usually illustrate the older TI-89.
Although the buttons on the Titanium
Edition are different shapes and
colors, they are in the same positions
and have the same functions.

TI-89
TI-89
Titanium

If $100 is invested for 4 years at 5.5% interest,

compounded annually, the ending amount is:

100 1.055 123.88

4

On the TI-89:

100 1.055 ^ 4

ENTER

At the end of each year, interest is paid on the amount in

the account and added back into the account, so the
amount of increase gets larger each year.
This is an example of an exponential function:
exponent

f x a

base

x
y

a
Graph
for a 2, 3, 5 in a [-5,5] by [-2,5] window:

MODE

Graph. FUNCTION
Display Digits FLOAT 6
Angle. RADIAN
Y=

ENTER

y1 x 2 ^ x

y2 x 3 ^ x

y3 x 5 ^ x
WINDOW

x
y

a
Graph
for a 2, 3, 5 in a [-5,5] by [-2,5] window:

Y=

y1 x 2 ^ x

y2 x 3 ^ x

y3 x 5 ^ x
WINDOW

GRAPH

x
y

a
Graph
for a 2, 3, 5 in a [-5,5] by [-2,5] window:

Where is

2 3 5
x

x 0,
Where is

2 3 5
x

x , 0
Where is

2 3 5
x

x0

x
y

a
Graph
for a 2, 3, 5 in a [-5,5] by [-2,5] window:

Where is

2 3 5
x

x 0,
Where is

2 3 5
x

,
?

x , 0
Where is

2 3 5
x

What is the domain?

What is the range?

0,

x0

Population growth can often be modeled with an exponential

function:
World Population:
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991

4936 million
5023
5111
5201
5329
5422

Ratio:

5023 4936 1.0176

5111 5023 1.0175
1.0176
1.0246
1.0175

The world population in any year is about 1.018 times the

Nineteen years past 1991.
previous year.
in 2010:

P 5422 1.018 7609.7

19

About 7.6 billion people.

Radioactive decay can also be modeled with an exponential

function:
Suppose you start with 5 grams of a radioactive substance
that has a half-life of 20 days. When will there be only one
gram left?
After 20 days:

1 5
5
2 2

1
40 days: 5
2

1
y

t days:

2

t
20

In Pre-Calc you solved this using logs. Today we are going to

solve it graphically for practice.

Y=

y1 x 1

y 2 x 5 (1/ 2) ^ ( x / 20)
WINDOW

GRAPH

WINDOW

GRAPH
F5

Math

Intersection

Use the arrow keys to select a

first curve, second curve, lower
bound and upper bound, and
press ENTER each time.

Upper bound and

lower bound are
x-values.

46 days

Many real-life phenomena can be modeled by an exponential

function with base e , where e 2.718281828 .

e can be approximated by:

f x

x
1
1
x

As x , f x e
Graph:
y=(1+1/x)^x in a
[-10,10] by [-5,10]
window.
Use trace to
investigate the
function.

We can have the calculator construct a table to investigate

how this function behaves as x gets much larger.
TblSet

tblStart .1000

ENTER

tbl..1000

ENTER

ENTER

TABLE
Move to the y1 column
and scroll down to
watch the y value
approach e.

The TI-89 has the exponential growth and decay

model built in as an exponential regression equation.

A regression equation starts with the points and finds

the equation.

To simplify, let x 0 represent 1880,

x 1 represent 1890, etc.

0,1, 2,3, 4,5, 6, 7,8,9 L1

2nd

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
STO

alpha

(Upper case L
used for clarity.)

U.S. Population:
1880
1890
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970

ENTER
2nd

L 1

ENTER

50.2 million
63.0
76.0
92.0
105.7
122.8
131.7
151.3
179.3
203.3

50.2, 63, 76,92,105.7,122.8,131.7,151.3,179.3, 203.3 L2

ExpReg L1, L2 ENTER
2nd

MATH

Statistics

alpha

ExpReg
Regressions

L 1

alpha

L 2

The calculator
should return:

ENTER
Done

 50.2, 63, 76,92,105.7,122.8,131.7,151.3,179.3, 203.3 L2

ExpReg L1, L2 ENTER
6

MATH

2nd

Statistics

alpha

L 1

alpha

L 2

The calculator
should return:

ExpReg
Regressions

ENTER
Done

ShowStat ENTER
2nd

MATH

Statistics

ENTER

ShowStat

The calculator gives you an

equation and constants:

y a b

a 55.054258
b 1.160626

We can use the calculator to plot the new curve along with
the original points:
Y=
2nd

Plot 1

y1=regeq(x)
VAR-LINK

regeq

ENTER

ENTER

WINDOW

Plot 1

ENTER

ENTER

WINDOW

GRAPH

WINDOW

GRAPH

What does this

equation predict
for the population
in 1990?

F3

This lets us see values for the distinct points.

Trace

This lets us trace along the line.

Moves to the line.

11

ENTER

Enters an x-value of 11.

What does this

equation predict
for the population
in 1990?

In 1990, the population was predicted to be 283.4 million.

This is an over estimate of 33 million, or 13%. Why might
this be?
11

ENTER

Enters an x-value of 11.

To find the annual rate of growth:

Since we used 10 year intervals with b=1.160626 :

1 r 10 1.16063
r 10 1.16063 1
r 0.015

or

1.5%