지수적 증가와 감소

In the beginning of this section, the text says “A differential equation is an equation for an unknown function that involves the derivative of the unknown function." Our unknown function is $y$, so a differential equation is an equation that relates $y$ and $\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}y}{\mathrm{d}x}$. This applies to (a) and (b), but not (c), (d), or (e).

Note that $\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{d}x}{\mathrm{d}x}=1$: this is the derivative of $x$ with respect to $x$.

What we're asked to find is when

$$\begin{aligned} Q(t)&=0 \\ \text{That is,} \\ Ce^{-kt}&=0 \end{aligned}$$

If $C=0$, then this is the case for all $t$. There was no isotope to begin with, and there will continue not being any undecayed isotope forever.

If $C>0$, then since $e^{-kt}>0$, also $Q(t)>0$: so $Q(t)$ is never 0 for any value of $t$. (But as $t$ gets bigger and bigger, $Q(t)$ gets closer and closer to 0.)

Remark: The last result is somewhat disturbing: surely at some point the last atom has decayed. The differential equation we use is a model that assumes $Q$ runs continuously. This is a good approximation only when there is a very large number of atoms. In practice, that is almost always the case.

We want to know when

$$\begin{aligned} [T(0)-A]e^{kt}+A&=A \\ \text{That is, when} \\ [T(0)-A]e^{kt}&=0 \\ \text{Since $e^{kt}>0$ for all values of $k$ and $t$, this happens exactly when} \\ T(0)-A=0 \end{aligned}$$

So: if the initial temperature of the object is not the same as the ambient temperature, then according to this model, it never will be! (However, as $t$ gets larger and larger, $T(t)$ gets closer and closer to $A$–it just never exactly reaches there.)

If the initial temperature of the object starts out the same as the ambient temperature, then $T(t)=A$ for all values of $t$.

Since $b$ is a positive constant, $\displaystyle \lim_{t \to \infty}e^{bt}=\infty$. Therefore:

$$\begin{aligned} \lim_{t \to \infty}P(t)&=\lim_{t \to \infty} P(0)e^{bt} =\left\{\begin{array}{cc} 0&\text{ if }P(0)=0\\ \infty&\text{ if }P(0)>0 \end{array}\right. \end{aligned}$$

If $P(0)=0$, then the model simply says “a population that starts with no individuals continues to have no individuals indefinitely," which certainly makes sense. If $P(0) \neq 0$, then (since we can't have a negative population) $P(0)>0$, and the model says “a population that starts out with some individuals will end up with any gigantically huge number you can think of, given enough time." This one doesn't make so much sense. Populations only grow to a certain finite amount, due to scarcity of resources and such. In the derivation of the Malthusian model, we assume a constant net birth rate–that the birth and death rates (per individual) don't depend on the population, which is not a reasonable assumption long-term.