I have a very quick question about exponential functions. I know how to use them and apply them but I don't know how to explain why they are always positive. Does anyone know why?
An example of an exponential function would be 5 to the power of x.
Thank you!
well, you surely know that 5^x > 0 for positive x. It grows from
5,25,125,625,... getting ever larger
Now, negative exponents are reciprocals. So for negative x, you just have
1/5, 1/25, 1/125,...
No negative values for y, just smaller and smaller.