Question

A scientist is studying the growth of a particular species of plant. He writes the following equation to show the height of the plant f(n), in cm, after n days:

f(n) = 15(1.04)n

Part A: When the scientist concluded his study, the height of the plant was approximately 20.53 cm. What is a reasonable domain to plot the growth function?

Part B: What does the y-intercept of the graph of the function f(n) represent?

Part C: What is the average rate of change of the function f(n) from n = 1 to n = 5, and what does it represent?

Answer 1

@ganeshie8 please help

Answer 2

what values for \(n\) make sense to u ?

Answer 3

20.53?

Answer 4

\(n\) represents the day...
20.53 is not the day, its the height, okay ?

Answer 5

okay

Answer 6

the days can be 0,1,2,...
they can be 0 or above... negative values for days may not make sense here

Answer 7

okay

Answer 8

so the domain for graphing the given function is 0 and above

Answer 9

is that what i write?

Answer 10

for A

Answer 11

you may rephrase it a bit and put something like below :
Since the scientist starts studying on day 0, the lowest value for \(n\) is \(0\).
The scientist concluded the study when the plant reached a height of 20.53cm which happens when n is approximately \(8\). So the domain to plot the growth function is : \(0\le n\le 8\)

Answer 12

oh ok that works! :D

Answer 13

for partB,
tell me this : what does a y-intercept represent in general ?

Answer 14

the endpoint?

Answer 15

nope its the opposite

Answer 16

y-intercept is the starting value

Answer 17

the startpoint

Answer 18

so f(n) represents the beginning of the function?