In this lesson, through various examples and activities, exponential growth and polynomial growth are compared to develop an insight about how quickly the number can grow or decay in exponentials. A basic knowledge of scientific notation, plotting graphs and finding intersection of two functions is assumed.

In this lesson, students will find the location of operation keys on their calculators, use order of operations on a calculator, input scientific notation into a calculator, and use a scientific calculator or graphing calculator to perform calculations.

A Khan Academy module that offers instruction and practice problems in exponents and scientific notation.