Student Amber Ben Carter
Description Amber shared her photo with 3 people. They continued to share it, so the number of shares increases every day, as shown by the function. Ben shared his post with 2 friends. Each of those friends shares with 3 more every day, so the number of shares triples every day. Carter shared his post with 10 friends, who each share with only 2 people each day.
Social Media Post Shares f(x) = 3(4)x
Day Number of Shares
0 2
1 6
2 18 Carter shared his post with 10 friends, who each share with only 2 people each day.
Write an exponential function to represent the spread of Ben's social media post.
Write an exponential function to represent the spread of Carter's social media post.
Graph each function using at least three points for each curve. All graphs should be placed together on the same coordinate plane, so be sure to label each curve. You may graph your equation by hand on a piece of paper and scan your work, or you may use graphing technology.
Using the functions for each student, predict how many shares each student's post will be received on Day 3 and then on Day 10. Justify your answers.
If Amber decides to mail copies of her photo to the 45 residents of her grandmother's assisted living facility, the new function representing her photo shares is f(x) = 3(4)x + 45. How does this graph compare with the original graph of Amber's photo share?
Based on your results, which student's post travels the fastest? How is this shown in the equation form of the functions?
If you had to choose, would you prefer a post with fewer friends initially but more shares, like Amber, or more friends initially but fewer shares? Justify your answer with your calculations from previous question
do this in one paragraph with the vocabulary of a 5th grader
3 answers
Carter's social media post can be represented by the exponential function f(x) = 10(2)^x. In this case, each friend shares with only 2 people each day.
To predict the number of shares on Day 3, we can plug in x = 3 into the functions. For Ben's post, f(3) = 2(3)^3 = 2(27) = 54 shares. For Carter's post, f(3) = 10(2)^3 = 10(8) = 80 shares.
To predict the number of shares on Day 10, we can plug in x = 10 into the functions. For Ben's post, f(10) = 2(3)^10 = 2(59049) = 118,098 shares. For Carter's post, f(10) = 10(2)^10 = 10(1024) = 10,240 shares.
If Amber decides to mail copies of her photo to the 45 residents of her grandmother's assisted living facility, the new function representing her photo shares would be f(x) = 3(4)^x + 45. This new function would have a constant addition of 45 shares, so the graph would be shifted upward by 45 units compared to the original graph of Amber's photo share.
Based on the results, Carter's post travels faster as it reaches a higher number of shares compared to Amber's and Ben's posts. This is shown in the exponential equation f(x) = 10(2)^x, where the base 2 represents the multiplying factor for each day.
If I had to choose, I would prefer a post with more friends initially but fewer shares. This is because with more friends initially, the potential reach of the post is wider. Even though there are fewer shares per day, the cumulative effect of having more friends can result in a higher number of shares over time.