More Real-world Exponential Scenarios Name _____________________

1. You start with $100, and you’re investing the money in an account that compounds quarterly (how
many times a year is that?). The annual interest rate on the account is 4%.
a. Write the function for your money M, as a function of years.

b. How much do you have after 1 year?

c. How much do you have after 5 years?

d. How much do you have after 30 years?

2. A woman invests a specific amount of money which earns compounded interest at a particular
rate. This situation is represented by the equation: A = 1000(1.023)2t. Using what you know about
any compound interest equation, determine:
a. the initial amount invested: ___________________
b. the interest rate: _______________
c. how often it is compounded: ________________
d. How much money does she have after three years?

3. Atmospheric pressure decreases at higher altitudes. In the equation P = 14.7(10)-0.02h , P

represenets the atmospheric pressure in pounds per square inch, and h represents the altitude
above sea level in miles.
a. The elevation of Boston, MA, is about sea level. Find the atmospheric pressure in Boston.

b. The elevation of Denver, CO, is about 1 mile (Denver is sometimes referred to as “The mile-
high city.”) Find the atmospheric pressure in Denver.

c. The highest mountain in the world is Mt. Everest in Nepal, which is about 5.5 miles above
sea level. Find the atmospheric pressure at the top of the mountain.

d. About 6 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea dried up. The bottom of the valley
formed by this dri sea was about 1.9 miles below sea level. Find the atmospheric that
would have been at the bottom of this valley.

e. The elevation of Raleigh, NC is 315 feet above sea level. Find the atmospheric pressure in
Raleigh.
4. Frank invested $2,000 into a savings account earning 2.5% interest annually. Paul invested money
into a different account at the same time as Frank. The
table below shows the amount of money in Paul’s s Time in Paul’s $$ Frank’s $$
years P(t)
account after t years.
a. Who had the larger initial investment? ____________ 1 $1560.00
b. Whose is earning a higher interest rate? ___________ 2 $1622.40

c. Over what interval of time will Frank have more money 3 $1687.30
in his account than Paul? You may use the table to 4 $1754.79
help. (Show both inequality and interval notation.)

d. Over what interval of time will Paul have more money

in his account than Frank? (Show both inequality and
interval notation.)

5. A cup of coffee is initially at a temperature of 93° F. The difference between its temperature and
the room temperature of 68° F decreases by 9% each minute. Write a function describing the
temperature of the coffee as a function of time in minutes.

6. The half-life of Carbon-14 is 5730 years. If an animal died 40,000 years ago and it had 100,000
grams of Carbon 14 in its body when it died, how much Carbon-14 will it have in its body now, if
the body were found intact?

7. CHALLENGE PROBLEM! (For EXTRA CREDIT, work this on a separate paper. +5 pts for each part (a
& b), if correct. Partial credit will be given, as appropriate.) In 1966, a miami boy smuggled three
Giant African Land Snails into the country. His grandmother eventually released them into the
garden, and in seven years there were approximately 18,000 of them. The snails are very
destructive and need to be eradicated.
a. Assuming the snail population grows exponentially, write an expression for the population,
p, in terms of the number , t, of years since their release, using the plain exp. Equation.
b. You must present to the local city council about eradicating the snails. To make a point,
you want to show the rate of increase per month. Convert your expression from being in
terms of years to being in terms of months.