3 Scenarios of Exponential Growth Formula in Excel

If you want to calculate the rise of the population of a region or the bacterial growth rate in a petri dish, you may need to know the usage of the exponential growth formula in Excel. Excel will help you to easily find exponential growth with a few steps. This article will describe 3 scenarios of using the exponential growth formula in Excel.

Exponential Growth Rate

In the simplest language, the exponential growth rate is a sharp growth that rises over time. The growth shows a massive change with the shift in time. Generally, the exponential growth rate is represented by this equation:

Here,

• y = Exponential Growth Rate
• b = Initial Amount
• m = Growth Factor
• x = Time Period

The Exponential Growth Rate equation is also expressed as:

Here,

• y = Exponential Growth Rate
• b = Initial Amount
• r = Growth Rate/Decay Rate (generally expressed in percentage ‘%’)
• x = Time Frame

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Scenario #1: Exponential Growth Formula with GROWTH Function in Excel

The function we used for predicting exponential growth is the GROWTH function. The GROWTH function returns the values in respect of the equation:

y=b*m^x

The GROWTH function finds the y-values for the new x-values by observing the existing x-values and y-values.

Syntax

GROWTH(known y's, [known x's], [new x's], [const])

• known y’s is a required argument. The known y’s are a number of y-values already mentioned in the dataset.
• known x’s is an optional argument. The known x’s can be either a single variable or a number of variables.
• new x’s are the values that will have corresponding new y-values after applying the GROWTH function.
• Const is a logical value. This one is optional. It can be either TRUE or FALSE.

Formula

=GROWTH(B2:B9,A2:A9,A10:A17)  

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Formula Explanation

• B2:B9 is the known y’s.
• A2:A9 is the known x’s.
• A10:A17 is the new x’s.

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Usage Guide

Step_1: Select an empty cell (cell B10).

Step_2: Write the formula in cell B10.

Step_3:  Press ENTER to apply the formula.

Step_4: Double-click on the Fill Handle at the bottom right corner of cell B10.

Final Result

The new y-values for the new x-values are in cells B10 to B17.

The results are in decimal form. But I am calculating population in this example and population can not be shown in decimals. So I prefer to change the decimals to round numbers. I will do it using the ROUND function. You can try that too.

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Applying ROUND Function (Optional Steps)

Formula

=ROUND(B10,0)

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Formula Explanation

• B10 is the first decimal value.
• 0 indicates the results will be integers. If I would insert 1, there will be 1 digit after the decimal (1228.8); if I would insert 2, there will be 2 digits after the decimal (1228.86).

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Step_5: Create a new column beside the existing columns (Round Population: column C).

Step_6: Type the formula in cell C10.

Step_7: Press ENTER.

Step_8: Double-click on the Fill Handle at cell C10.

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Scenario #2: Use of TRUE or FALSE in Exponential Growth Formula in Excel

The equation we are following for the GROWTH function is

y=b*m^x.

Here, ‘b’ indicates the initial value I have already mentioned.

In the GROWTH function, the const displays the input of ‘b’. You can offer either TRUE or FALSE as the const value.

Usage Guide

Step_1: Insert 2 new columns in the data table: FALSE(column D) and TRUE (column E). 

Step_2: Type the formula for FALSE in cell D2.

Formula

=GROWTH(B2:B9,A2:A9,A10:A17,FALSE)

Step_3: Press ENTER.

Step_4: Double-click on the Fill Handle at cell D2.

Step_5: Write the formula for TRUE inside cell E2.

Formula

=GROWTH(B2:B9,A2:A9,A10:A17,TRUE)

Step_6: Press ENTER.

Step_7: Double click on the Fill Handle.

You will see the bottom cells of column D and column E are showing #VALUE!. Because there are no corresponding inputs for those cells.

Let’s remove the errors.

Step_8: Select the cells with #VALUE!.

Step_9: Click on the Home tab.

Step_10: From the Editing group, click on the Clear drop-down menu.

Step_11: Selec the option: Clear Contents. 

Final Result 

Now you have a clean data table. Take a look below:

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Scenario #3: Use of Growth Rate in Exponential Growth Formula in Excel

Remember I said earlier, that the Exponential Growth Rate equation can be represented using the Growth Rate. The equation for that: y=b(1+r^x).

Here, ‘r’ is the Growth Rate.

To show you how you can use the Growth Rate in the Exponential Growth formula, I have a different dataset here:

The Growth Rate is expressed in percentages (%) usually.

Formula

=B2*(1+B3^B4)

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Formula Explanation

• B2 is the starting value.
• B3 is the growth rate/decay rate.
• B4 indicates the time.

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Usage Guide 

Step_1: Write the formula in cell B6.

Step_2: Press ENTER to apply the formula.

Final Result

This way you can use the exponential growth formula in a different structure.

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Conclusion

I hope you get an overall idea about the exponential growth rate formula and how you can use it in Excel in different forms. Feel free to ask anything regarding this article in the comment section. I hope you like my writing. Thank you.