Learning Resources
Lesson
This activity will exhibit a situation where exponential growth occurs. It will be best to work in pairs or small groups to complete the exploration.
Materials required
- 100 or more pennies
- container to shake the pennies
- graphing technology with regression analysis features
Step A and Step B require you to create a table of values for the trial number versus the number of pennies. You will note trial 0 has 6 pennies since this is the initial starting number of pennies used. Carry out the trials and record your results in a table as given in your textbook.
Complete the investigation questions before continuing.
If you have forgotten how to create a scatter plot, find the regression equation and draw the regression curve, a step by step description is given below for the following set of data (remember this is only sample data; you must find your own for the investigation):
Trial Number |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
Number of Pennies |
6 |
9 |
12 |
16 |
21 |
33 |
42 |
64 |
97 |
151 |
- For scatter plot click here
- For regression curve click here
The displayed equation for this data is 
; if you pool your results and find an average value for each trial the equation will become very close to 
. The a = 6 agrees with our earlier discussions concerning the y-intercept being a. Consider the probability of obtaining a head when a coin is tossed in explaining why b = 1.5 .
Activity
Investigation Questions p.131 - 132. Compete 13 to 20 inclusive
Check Your Understanding p.132 - 134. Complete 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25
When you have completed these questions, ask your on-site teacher to get the solutions for you from the Teacher's Resource Binder and check them against your answers. After you do this, if there is something you had trouble with and still do not understand, contact your on-line teacher for help.
After you do the assigned activities, continue on to the Test Yourself section below for a quick quiz on this lesson.
Test Yourself
- The new Canada Savings Bonds boasts a rate of 2.75% growth per year guaranteed. If this this series of bonds grows exponentially, determine how long it will take to double an investment of $1000.
- Newfoundland has a serious out migration problem. One small outport whose population in 1975 was 1600 people has an annual decrease in population of 8%. How many people are now living in that community?
Click here for suggested solutions.