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Without graphing, determine whether the function represents exponential growth or exponential decay. Then find the y-intercept. f(x)=( 1/7) ^−x.

User Ardavel
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Final answer:

The function f(x) = (1/7)^(-x) represents exponential growth because the base is less than 1 and raised to a negative power. The y-intercept of this function is 1, which is found by setting x to 0.

Step-by-step explanation:

The function given is f(x) = (1/7)^(-x). To determine if it represents exponential growth or exponential decay, we look at the base of the exponent. Since the base, (1/7), is less than 1, raising it to the negative power of x will result in a value greater than 1, indicating exponential growth. This is because as x increases, the negative exponent makes the base raised to a higher positive power, which yields larger values for f(x).

To find the y-intercept of the function, we set x to 0 to get: f(0) = (1/7)^0 = 1. Hence, the y-intercept of the function is 1.

User Yanar Assaf
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