When the Population Doubles During Each Given Unit of Time

Question

When the population doubles during each given unit of time, the growth is
A) linear.
B) semilogarithmic.
C) exponential.
D) geometric.
E) arithmetic.

Accepted Answer

Exponential growth occurs when there is a constant rate of increase in a population over time. In this case, the population is doubling during each unit of time, which means that the growth is exponential. Linear growth occurs when there is a constant increase in population over time, while geometric growth refers to growth that occurs in a specific pattern, and arithmetic growth simply refers to steady or consistent growth over time, none of which apply to this scenario. Semilogarithmic growth refers to growth that can be graphed on a semilogarithmic scale, and while this type of growth can occur in certain situations, it does not apply to a population that is doubling every unit of time.