Doubling Time and Half-Life

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Taught by TheMathDude
  • Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
9094 views | 3 ratings
Lesson Summary:

In this lesson on doubling time and half-life, you will learn how to use these concepts to calculate growth rates and decay rates. By understanding the time it takes for something to double or half in value, you can easily calculate the corresponding rate constant. You will also learn how to use natural logarithms and Solver to solve these problems without having to memorize any formulas. By the end of the lesson, you will have a clear understanding of how to use these concepts to compute growth rates and decay rates.

Lesson Description:

Understand what a doubling time or half life means and how to use it compute a growth rate or vice versa.

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Additional Resources:
Questions answered by this video:
  • What is doubling time and how do you find it?
  • What is half-life and how do you find it?
  • If you want your investment to double in value every three years, at what rate of interest would you need to invest it assuming it is compounded continuously?
  • If your investment on stocks is losing half its value every two years, how can you find and interpret the associated decay rate?
  • How do you use the Equation Solver on a TI Graphing Calculator to solve a doubling time or half-life problem?
  • How do you solve the exponential equation 2 = 1e^(3k)?
  • Staff Review

    • Currently 5.0/5 Stars.
    This lesson does a great job of explaining doubling time and half-life and showing how to find / use these values in real-world situations. The topics are explained very well, and all steps involved in solving the 2 problems presented using a TI graphing calculator are very clear. Solving by hand using paper is also shown in this lesson.