Real Word Examples of Exponential Growth
Real Word Examples of Exponential Growth
Six real word examples of exponential growth in a Powerpoint slide show (3.7 MB) that includes 11 graphs of economic and financial data (linear and log scale). Data is from MeasuringWorth.org, Yahoo Finance, and Irrational Exuberance. Links to the data sets are included in the file. Images can be printed (B&W or color) for handouts.
- Real US GDP 1790-2012 (Linear & Log Graphs)
- Real US Stock Prices 1871-2012 (Linear & Log Graphs)
- General Electric Stock Price 1962-2013 (Linear & Log Graphs)
- US Population 1790-2012 (Linear & Log Graphs)
- Inflation Index 1774-2012 (Linear & Log Graphs)
- US GDP & Population 1790-2012 (Log Graph)
These graphs illustrate historical data series with constant growth rates and data series with changing growth rates over time. In addition, there is a example of adding/subtracting growth rates in log graph using US GDP, US Population & US GDP per person.
*** A few of people have had difficulty downloading in Firefox, if the download link does not work, try to copying the link into another browser. ***
About this project
After receiving requests to use some of my graphs in textbooks, emails from teachers and recommendations by EducationWorld and the Library of Congress, I decided to create a series of Powerpoint presentations for teachers. In my first Powerpoint slide deck, I have created and updated examples of exponential growth in economics and finance. This historical data is annotated by major events and covers, in some cases, 200 years of US history. They are useful for interdisciplinary classwork in economics, social studies history as well as math. Besides demonstrating how the logarithmic scale works, this collection of graphs provides examples that show how log scales can illustrate percent changes and growth rates.
I release my work with a CREATIVE COMMONS BY-NC license so you are free to share/copy these graphs for educational or personal use as long as you link back to my site VisualizingEconomics.com
Learn more about me and VisualizingEconomics.
