How do you determine if the equation y = 5^x represents exponential growth or decay?

1 Answer
Luca F.
Jun 22, 2015

It is growing because the base is greater than 1 and the exponent has a positive sign.

Explanation:

First of all y=5^x it's not only an equation, but it's also a function called "Exponential function". The base (5 in this case) determine the growth or decay of the function. If base>1 then the function grows, otherwise if base is between 0 and 1, the function decays. We assume that the base is positive and it's not 1 or 0.

Another thing to notice is that if you have y=5^(-x) this function could be rewritten in this way: y=(1/5)^x. That's why it is apparently growing but in reality it is decaying.

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