What is exponential growth and exponential decay?

Question

How would you describe exponential growth and exponential decay to someone unfamiliar with these phrases?

Answer 1

Exponential growth is a process by which a given quantity increases over time. The quantity increases quickly by a large amount in the given time.

Exponential decay is a process by which a given quantity decreases over time. The rate of decay of the quantity is proportional to the quantity at a given time. We can also say that the quantity gets proportionally smaller as the quantity decreases.