In the general form of an exponential decay function, \( f(x) = a \cdot b^x \):
- a represents the initial value (the value of the function when \( x = 0 \)).
- b represents the decay factor.
For an exponential decay function with \( a > 0 \), \( b \) must be between 0 and 1 (0 < b < 1) for the function to exhibit decay.