Professor Strang explains how the "magic number e" connects to ordinary things like the interest on a bank account. The graph of y = e^x has the special property that its slope equals its height (it goes up "exponentially fast"!). This is the great function of calculus.
View the complete course at: http://ocw.mit.edu/highlights-of-calculus
Chapters
00:00 Outline
00:24 The Exponential Function: y = e^x, The function that calculus created
01:15 Properties of the Exponential Function
27:20 The Graph of the Function y = e^x
30:00 Example: Computing Compound Interest
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Subtitles are provided through the generous assistance of Jimmy Ren.