Name: ________________________________________________ Date: ________________
Exponential Growth and Decay Lab
Lab Directions
1. Take a piece of rectangular paper and fold it in half. You now have two equal sized sections each
with an area that is half the original area.
2. Fold the paper in half again. How many sections of paper do you have? What is the area of each
section compared to the area of the original piece of paper?
3. Continue this process until you cannot fold the paper anymore. Fill in the chart below as you go.
Number of Folds
0
1
2
3
4
5
Number of Sections
Fractional Area of each
section compared to area
of original paper
Drawing Conclusions
4. How many sections will you have after 10 folds? Write an equation that will allow you to
determine the number of sections of paper you will have after n folds.
5. Use your equation to determine the number of regions you would have after 15 folds (assume it
is possible to fold the paper 15 times).
6. What is the fractional area of each section compared to the area of the original paper after 10
folds? Write an equation that will allow you to determine the fractional area of a section after n
folds.
7. Use your equation to determine the fractional area of a piece after 15 folds (assume it is
possible to fold the paper 15 times).
8. Graph both sets of data.
9. The number of sections created is an example of exponential growth. What do you notice about
the table, equation, and graph of an exponential growth function?
10. The fractional area of each section is an example of exponential decay. What do you notice
about the table, equation, and graph of an exponential decay function?