growth and decay

Question

Tom bought a car for $20,000. The value of the car depreciates at a rate of 12% each year. Find the value of the car after 5 years.

Answer 1

Hi Sarah! The general format for an exponential function like this is Value = starting amount • changing amount ^time. So in this case, the value of the car would be calculated by doing 20000 • .88⁵. The 20000 represents the original value of the car, .88 represents the 88% of the value left over after the 12% is taken out, and the 5 represents how many years have passed. I hope this helps!