Appendix B

Uses of Exponents and Logarithms

Exponential Functions

An exponential function is one whose independent variable is an exponent. For example:

Unnumbered Display Equation

where:

y = dependent variable
t = independent variable
b = base (b > 1)

In calculus, many exponential functions use as their base the irrational number 2.71828, denoted by the symbol e:

Unnumbered Display Equation

An exponential function that uses e as its base is defined as a natural exponential function. For example:

These functions also can be expressed as:

In calculus, natural exponential functions have the useful ...

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