Chapter 7 Vocab

Question 1

monomial

Answer 1

a number, a variable, or a product of a number and one or more variables

Question 2

constant

Answer 2

a monomial that is a real number

Question 3

zero exponent

Answer 3

any nonzero number raised to the zero power is equal to one

Question 4

negative exponent

Answer 4

for any real number a not equal to zero and any integer n, a^(-n) = 1/(a^n) and 1/(a^(-n)) = a^n

Question 5

order of magnitude

Answer 5

the order of magnitude of a quantity is the number rounded to the nearest power of 10

Question 6

rational exponent

Answer 6

exponents that are fractions, where the numerator is a power and the denominator is a root

Question 7

cube root

Answer 7

if a^3 = b, then a is the cube root of b

Question 8

nth root

Answer 8

if a^n=b for a positive integer n, then a is an nth root of b

Question 9

exponential equation

Answer 9

an equation in which the variables occur as exponents

Question 10

compound interest

Answer 10

a special application of exponential growth

Question 11

geometric sequence

Answer 11

a sequence in which each term after the first is found by multiplying the previous term by a constant called the common ratio

Question 12

common ratio

Answer 12

the ratio of successive terms of a geometric sequence

Question 13

recursive formula

Answer 13

each term is formulated from one or more previous terms

Question 14

binomial

Answer 14

the sum of two monomials

Question 15

scientific notation

Answer 15

a number in this form is expressed as a x10^n, where 1 ≤ a <10 and n is an integer

Question 16

exponential function

Answer 16

a function that can be described by an equation of the form y = a^x, where a>0 and a does not equal 1

Question 17

exponential growth

Answer 17

when an initial amount increases by the same percent over a given period of time

Question 18

exponential decay

Answer 18

when an initial amount decreases by the same percent over a given period of time