A new, trendy department store is experiencing exponential growth across America. The chain began in 2004 when it opened 16 stores in Texas. Since then, it has grown by 35% in new store openings each year. Create an exponential function below to show the number of stores each year, x, since 2004.
This equation is of the form y=a(1+r)ˣ, where a is the initial amount, r is the rate of growth expressed as a decimal number, y is the total, and x is the amount of time. For our problem, a is 16; b is 0.35 (35%=35/100=0.35). This gives us the equation above.
