The exponential function you provided is \( y = 8(6)^x \). In this function, the base of the exponential part is \( 6 \).
The growth rate of an exponential function in general can be expressed in terms of its base. Specifically, if the function is of the form \( y = a(b)^x \), where \( b \) is the base (and in this case \( b = 6 \)), the growth rate is often represented in terms of the base.
Here, since the base is \( 6 \), the function grows by a factor of \( 6 \) for each unit increase in \( x \). Therefore, the growth rate is determined by the base of the exponent, which is:
6
Thus, the growth rate of the function \( y = 8(6)^x \) is 6.