Periodic Functions

Periodic functions are "functions that repeat their values in regular intervals or periods."
An example  of periodic functions in real life are sound waves:

Exponential Growth Project Reflection

I did my project over the exponential growth of a neighborhood cat population. In it we started with one pair of mating cats giving birth to a litter of two kittens. Those two kittens in turn both gave birth to litters of two kittens, and so on. In our presentation we showed 5 generations of cats, which results in 31 cats after a period of 45 months (7 months sexually mature + 2 month gestation= how long it takes to produce a litter, so 9 months, and 9x5=45) This is exponential growth because the number of cats is increasing by a growing rate. This project definitely helped me understand exponential growth better and how to distinguish it from linear growth. The difference is that linear goes up by the same rate/number each time, but exponential goes up or down with a growing or decaying rate. Seeing how the math is used in a real life scenario makes me appreciate learning it more, because most of the time I'm like, "I'm never going to use this." but now I have something I can actually use to help me figure out real world problems or predict future situations. 

Example of Exponential Decay

An example of exponential decay is the value of a car decaying over time; You can use exponential decay to find out how much it would be worth to sell. 

Example of Exponential Growth and Decay

Exponential growth and decay can determine the change in population over a period of time. For example, the U.S. census, which is conducted every ten years, is used to determine the growth or decline in the U.S. population by using exponential growth/decay.