Final answer:
Catherine's offers from Company A and Company B represent linear and exponential salary growth respectively. Company A offers a fixed annual raise while Company B offers a percentage-based raise. To compare, one can use the respective formulas for each company and calculate for different years.
Step-by-step explanation:
Catherine is evaluating job offers that have different salary growth rates. For Company A, the salary growth is linear, because she gets a fixed raise every year. For Company B, the salary growth is exponential, because she gets a percentage-based raise every year. To compare these, we can use the formulas for linear and exponential functions respectively.
For Company A, a(t) = 52000 + 2100t, where t is the number of years at the company.
For Company B, b(t) = 52000(1 + 0.044)^t, which represents a 4.4% raise compounded annually.
To determine which company offers the better salary in the long term, she would need to evaluate these formulas for different values of t and compare.