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Growth and Decay



Summary
The content focuses on solving growth and decay problems, a rare but potential question type in the GRE exam, emphasizing that all necessary mathematical information will be provided within the question.
  • Growth and decay problems involve populations or samples increasing or decreasing over time, such as human populations growing or radioactive substances decaying.
  • These questions do not require prior scientific knowledge; the question will supply all needed mathematical details.
  • The basic approach involves being given a starting value and a rate of change over a fixed interval, with the task to calculate the resultant amount after a certain period.
  • Solving these problems requires taking the calculations step by step, using the given time interval as a guide to sequentially determine the amounts until reaching the final value.
  • Examples provided include calculating the remaining mass of a decaying radioactive isotope and determining the population size of bacteria after a series of growth intervals.
Chapters
00:04
Understanding Growth and Decay
00:53
Approach to Solving Problems
01:07
Step-by-Step Calculation Method
01:25
Practical Examples