Exponentials & Logs - Population Growth

[sbeccia]

Hey everyone

When approaching a question about an exponential growth within a population, is there a specific formula that should be used in methods? The textbook doesn't provide one to approach a question like this, although when I searched it, it came up with this: : P = P0e^rt  (e= Euler's number) 

Also, I noticed that in examples the textbook provided, they did not use Euler's number either!

Thanks in advanced!

[Willba99]

There's no specific formula - each scenario will have its own (generally its your job to make the formula). However, all of these equations are going to have a base to the power of x (or t) to provide the exponential shape. Then there are various transformations and translations that can be applied. An example would be:

P(t) = 9*3^((t-2)/4)+5

As you can see, this equation (when graphed) will have an exponential shape, but there are other factors involved (a constant translation of 5 units up, etc)

Does this answer the question?