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The Exponential Function.
If initial value of something is X, after 10 doubling intervals its value will be X*2^10 = X*1024, or about a thousand times greater. In another 10 doubling intervals it will become million times greater, and in another ten intervals, billion times greater.
This means that given the finite resources, anything that uses even the tiny percent of those resources at a steady growth rate, it will exhaust the resources in a very near future. [1] The exponential function is used to describe the size of anything that is growing steadily, for example, 7% per year.
At a 7% rate increase per year, it will double in size in about 10 years. In another ten years it will double again (or quadruple the initial size).
In other words:
100 will become 107 in 1 year (100 * 1.07 = 107)
107 will become 114.49 in 1 year (107 * 1.07 = 114.49)
...
100 will become 200 in 10 years and 3 months, and 400 in 20 years and 6 months, 1000 in 34 years. The Exponential Function.
