Question 1165047: would you prefer that your salary be modeled linearly or exponentially? Give reason and explain your answer
Answer by greenestamps(13198)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The intent of the problem is good... but the statement of the problem as it is is insufficient.
Obviously in this case I would prefer exponential:
$50,000, increased by 10% per year --> salary in 40th year $2,262,963
$50,000, increased by $10,000 per year --> salary in 40th year $440,000
But "exponential" by itself doesn't guarantee faster growth:
$50,000, increased by 0.01% per year --> salary in 40th year $50,200
And "exponential" by itself doesn't even mean increasing. A salary modeled by a decreasing exponential function is clearly worse than one that is increasing linearly.
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