Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics
E
Students should be able to complete the table by substituting the values of x into the equation. Some
calculators have a ‘table’ function. If your students have calculators with this function, it is a good
idea to encourage them to at least check their calculations.
Click to reveal the completed table
Discussion point 1:
What sort of function is 2x? Equations in the general form y = ax are called exponential equations.
When a is a positive integer, the shape of the resultant curve rises rapidly as it goes from left to
right. What line is the curve tending towards as x becomes more and more negative? As x becomes
more negative, the curve gets closer and closer to the x-axis but never crosses it. What happens as
x becomes more and more positive? This is exponential growth. When the exponent (x) is negative,
the curve decreases from left to right, and this is called exponential decay.
(a) Students should know that when plotting a graph they need to:
• complete a table of values
• rule the axes and label them
• plot the (x, y) co-ordinates from their table of values
• join the plotted points with a smooth curve.
Click to reveal the graph
(b) Discussion point 2:
Students need to draw a tangent to the curve at the point where x = 1 and use this to calculate the
gradient. Encourage students to use a sharp pencil when drawing the tangent and to take care that
it is drawn as accurately as possible. They should know that the gradient is equal to the change in
y-coordinates divided by the x-increase.
Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics
E
Click to reveal tangent to the curve at x = 1
Click to reveal the formula for calculating the gradient
Click to reveal the answer
Answer: gradient = 1.4
(c) Discussion point 3:
What will the students need to add to their graph to solve this? How will they decide what line
needs drawing? Students need to rearrange the equation so that they get 2x = 3; then they need to
plot the
line y = 3 and read off the x-value at the point of intersection.
Click to reveal the line y = 3
Click to reveal the answer
Answer: x = 1.6
