Monday, March 22, 2010

Yesterday, our class worked on graphing Exponential Functions in order to learn how certain variables effect the function's graph. In the equation y=a(b)*+c the variables a, b and c all change the way the graph looks. The a is the y-intercept or initial value, unless there is a c in the equation. If there is a c, the two variables values are added to create the y-intercept. The b in the equation is the growth factor. It represents the rate that the line is increasing or decreasing much like the slope does in a linear equation. For example, if the b is two, then the y is doubling every interval. Next, the c is, again, the added or subtracted variable that is able to change the y-intercept and the a. The c sometimes is the y-intercept when you add one to it, because in many Exponential Functions the initial factor (a) is one. These three important variable can reveal a lot of information about an Exponential Function's graph.

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