I don't think you understand exponential growth, I mean it's right there in your description.
"Exponential growth occurs when the growth rate of the value of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's current value"
The 20% that is added each time is not 20% of the original amount, but 20% of the current value.
Sure exponential means 'to the power of' but you can have indices of less than one, or of decimal values. 120% is approximately the same as saying ^1.04
Wow, Just wow.
As I posted, exponents are powers of said #.
From google.
a quantity representing the power to which a given number or expression is to be raised, usually expressed as a raised symbol beside the number or expression (e.g., 3 in 2
3 = 2 × 2 × 2).
For the network to have grown exponentially from say 2phs would put it at 4phs, but if you look at the growth history, that didn't happen.
And if it grew exponentially from 10phs it would now be 100phs.
Math is not something that is subjective, defining exponential is not the same as defining the word "is".
This might be easier for you to understand.
http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/exponential-growth.htmlWow, just wow.
Even in the examples on the website you kindly proffered me there was an exponent <1.
What you seem to be saying is that exponential means 'to the power of 2.' The examples you gave being 2^2=4 and 10^2=100
Secondly you are confusing an exponential function or exponent with exponential growth
Lets go allll the way back to the definition you first gave (but somehow still don't understand).
"Exponential growth occurs when the growth rate of the value of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's
current value"
Does it say 'Exponential growth occurs when the growth rate of the value of a mathematical function is
the square of the function's current value'? NO!
What it says is simply that the growth rate is proportional to the current value.
Lets do an example to help you out.
My beans grow at an amazing exponential rate of 50% in length per day. They start off at 10cm.
After day 1 they have grown 5cm. With me so far?
Now here's where it gets exponential, for day 2: instead of adding another 5cm, we use 150% of the
current length which is 15cm now, so they grow 7.5cm (not 5cm) and end up at 22.5cm.
That's what exponential growth is. The fact that you use the current value. The actual growth rate itself doesn't matter, it can be ^2 as you seem to be fond of, it can by ^1/2 or ^-3,000, all that matters is that you use the current value in your calculation rather than the original value.
I'm sorry I was a dick about this, but I was simply mirroring your demeanour.