In this lesson, you will learn how to formulate an equation for a situation that can be modeled by an exponential equation.

Interactive exercise. Assistance may be required. Exponential Growth and Decay

The animation below demonstrates the number of fish that are in a population. For each generation, the number of fish in the population doubles. Click on "Next Step" to begin.

Read more about Exponential Growth and Decay.

Formulating an Exponential Equation

Let's put into practice what you have reviewed. In the next section, you will be given sets of data or contextual situations and you will learn ways to formulate an exponential function to fit your data or the situation. 

You will be shown several ways to formulate an exponential equation, and you can decide which method works best for you. 

The three methods we will examine in this lesson include

  1. using your knowledge of each of the components of the exponential growth and decay functions,
  2. using regression analysis features on the graphing calculator, and
  3. using regression analysis features on a given computer applet.

If you already know how to formulate an exponential function to fit given data or a given situation, you may skip to the Practice section.

Otherwise, proceed to the next page.