exponential

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   describing growth or decay whose rate is proportional to the quantity's current value, producing repeated multiplication over equal intervals

   At a fixed annual percentage, the investment shows exponential growth rather than increasing by the same amount each year.

2. 2
   adj

   relating to an exponent or to a mathematical expression in which a variable occurs as an exponent

   The equation has an exponential term with time in the exponent.

3. 3
   noun

   an exponential function or expression

   The solution is an exponential that approaches zero as time increases.

Formed from exponent + -ial. Exponent comes from Latin exponens ("setting forth"), from exponere. The mathematical adjective first described expressions involving exponents; its growth sense follows from functions whose variable appears in the exponent.

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