Chapter 11
Exploring Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
IN THIS CHAPTER
Getting comfortable with exponential expressions
Functioning with base b and base e
Taming exponential equations and compound interest
Working with logarithmic functions
Rolling over on log equations
Picturing exponentials and logs
Exponential growth and decay are natural phenomena. They happen all around us. And being the thorough, worldly people they are, mathematicians have come up with ways of describing, formulating, and graphing these phenomena. Thanks to their hard work, you can express the patterns observed when exponential growth and decay occur mathematically using exponential and logarithmic functions.
Why else are these functions important? Certain algebraic functions, such as polynomials and rational functions, share certain characteristics that exponential functions lack. For example, algebraic ...
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