Your $35,000 annual salary increases by 4% each year

Question

Write and graph a function that represents the situation

Answer 1

S(t) = S₀·(1 + rate)^t

• S(t) = salary at year t
• S₀ = starting salary = $35,000
• rate = 4% = 0.04
• t = years

 

Plug in the numbers and simplify to get the equation.  To graph it, compute the value of S(t) for t = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 then plot the points on a graph.  You should know the general shape of the graph of an exponential function (google it if you don't).