Calculus 6.4

1
Exponential Growth and Decay
Glacier National Park, Montana Photo by Vickie
Kelly, 2004
Greg Kelly, Hanford High School, Richland,
Washington
2
Exponential Change
If the constant k is positive then the equation
represents growth. If k is negative then the
equation represents decay.
3
Population Growth
In the spring, a bee population will grow
according to an exponential model. Suppose that
the population in the hive is estimated to be
25,000 bees on January 1st and 47,000 bees on
April 1st.
a) Find the growth constant, k, for the above
model. Write a differential equation to model the
population growth of the bees.
b) Using the model in the above parts, estimate
the population of bees on June 1st.