Is it possible to solve equlaity between two exponential functions? And Sal solved the problem by using a table where he calculates the values for each year, which got me thinking about whether there is an easier way to solve it using a formula? I tried writing on a paper: 10000+5000n=500 cdot 2^n

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Answered question

2022-09-04

Is it possible to solve equlaity between two exponential functions?
And Sal solved the problem by using a table where he calculates the values for each year, which got me thinking about whether there is an easier way to solve it using a formula? I tried writing on a paper:
10000 + 5000 n = 500 2 n
But didn't know how to solve it, or if it was the right way to do so. I'm still going through Algebra 1 so this might be advanced for me, but I'd like to know whether it can be solved using an easier way or not.

Answer & Explanation

Kristopher Beard

Kristopher Beard

Beginner2022-09-05Added 18 answers

Step 1
We can write Company A's payment like this:
10000 + 5000 t , where t is time in months
Similarly, we can write Company B's payment like this:
500 2 t
Now you may be wondering, how did I get these equations? Well, according to the problem,
Company A is offering $10000 for the first month and will increase the amount each month by $5000.
So, the original payment is $10000, a constant that doesn't depend on a variable of time. However, the payment increases by a steady $5000 every month. This is dependent on time, so we can write it as a linear equation, where the slope represents the increase in payment by a steady increment of $5000.
Step 2
Now, here's the second part:
Company B is offering $500 for the first month and will double their payment every month.
This is an example of "exponential" growth. Why "exponential"? Because the amount of money multiplies on itself every month. For example, if the payment was $500, then it will double to $1000 in the next month, then $2000 the next month, then $4000 and so forth. This type of growth is exponential because it grows like an exponent. The first payment was 500, so we would write that down as a constant 500. However, as t increases, the payment doubles, so we multiply by 2 to the power of t. Like any exponent, t, in this case, represents how many times the payment has been doubled, and since it doubles every month, this equation would correctly represent Company B's payment. You can also check that the equation is correct by plugging in t = 0. 500 2 0 = 500 1 = 500, which gives you that original payment of $500.
You are trying to solve for equality between the two equations, so set them equal to each other.
10000 + 5000 t = 500 2 t
Dividing each side by 500, we get this:
20 + 10 t = 2 t
This equation will not solve nicely (in terms of integer answers), but the key here is that exponential functions increase much faster than linear equations.

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