Question

Which of the following table of ordered pairs represents an exponential growth pattern?


x y
1 -2
2 -4
3 -6
4 -8
5 -10

x y
1 0.50
2 0.25
3 0.13
4 0.06
5 0.03

x y
1 2
2 4
3 6
4 8
5 10

x y
1 2
2 4
3 8
4 16
5 32

Answer 1

The fourth table (x:1→5, y: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32).

Reason: exponential change has a constant multiplicative ratio between successive y-values. Here y_{n+1}/y_n = 2 each time (growth by factor 2).
(For reference: the second table is exponential decay with ratio 1/2; the first and third are linear.)