R16a – Growth and decay problems

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A big idea

This applet allows you to generate questions involving exponential growth and decay, and reveal amounts at intermediate time periods, not just at a start and an end point. You can reposition the arrow to show the relationship between amounts at any two time periods.You can click on the label to the right of the arrow to cycle through different information.

Growth and decay problems (exponential)

Teacher resources

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  • Slides in PPTX (with click-to-reveal answers)
  • Slides in PDF (one slide per page, suitable for importing into IWB software)
Links to past exam questions

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Unlimited practice questions: compound interest and depreciation

Simple interest

Simple interest (as opposed to compound interest, covered above) is rarely seen in the real world, but can make appearances in maths textbooks and exams.

Unlimited practice questions: simple interest

Teacher resources

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Comparing simple and compound interest

This applet allows you to compare how an initial amount of £100 would grow over a period of up to 15 years at a given percentage rate using simple interest and compound interest. You can drag the slider underneath the horizontal axis to show year-by-year growth.

With thanks to Yip Wing Chung, Felix, whose Simple interest Compound interest worksheet is available here. Material modified and embedded here under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.
In the real world

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