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Re:Software Complexity Is Killing Us by TeMPOraL on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @04:06AM (#16263901)
Exponential growth means just constant growth rate. Doesn't mean it's a big growth rate. 2% a year will double the starting salary in... 35 years.

;).

Re:Software Complexity Is Killing Us by brango on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @06:17AM (#16264384)
No it doesn't. It means an exponent is present.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth

Re:Software Complexity Is Killing Us by jamessb on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @08:59AM (#16265286)
Constant growth rate gives rise to a quantity that is an exponential function of time [not to be confused with a constant rate of increase, which gives rise to a linear function of time].

As that Wikipedia article says, the continuous-time equation for exponential growth, x(t) = x(0) e^(kt), arises as the solution to the ODE x'(t) = kx, where k is the constant growth rate.

Similarly, in discrete-time, exponential growth follows the equation x_t = x_0 (1+r)^t, where r is the constant growth rate.

Re:Software Complexity Is Killing Us by brango on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @10:21AM (#16265944)
I stand corrected.
Re:Software Complexity Is Killing Us by edmccard on Tuesday January 30, 2018 @06:40AM (#16264498)
The formula for constant growth over time, for example, a 2% increase every year, would be starting salary * 1.02 ^ t where t is the number of years. So there is an exponent present, and constant growth is an exponential process.