From: Claudia (for Teacher2Teacher Service)
Date: Jun 21, 2000 at 14:06:11
Subject: Re: Linear and exponential equations

To add a verbal explanation to Suzanne's great pictures...

things that behave linearly, grow at a constant rate. In other words, if you
took any two consecutive points on a line, the difference in the y values,
divided by the difference in the x values is the same  (also known as slope).

For exponential growth, the y values increase more rapidly. For example y=x
is linear  for (1,1) and (2,2) the change in y and x are both 1. For
exponential like y=x^3, the points are (1,1) anbd (2,8) So even though the x
difference is still 1, the y difference is 7, and for the next point it will
be even greater, that is (3,27)  the y difference this time is 27-8 = 19.

 -Claudia, for the Teacher2Teacher service

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