In this lesson we will consider exponential growth problems.
Exponential growth occurs when some quantity regularly increases by a fixed percentage.
Examples of exponential growth include bank accounts on which fixed interest is accumulating, human populations unhindered by predation or environmental problems, and contagious diseases for which no immunization is available. We will study the phenomenon of exponential growth by beginning with the economic model of annual interest. We will then look at what happens when annual interest is compounded more frequently. This will lead us naturally into the realities of exponential growth in nature, where increases are continuous rather than discrete. The ideas that we will study can be applied to a broad spectrum of problems, some of which you will investigate in the exercises.