Newsgroups: sci.math, alt.radio.networks.npr, alt.usage.english
Followup-To: alt.radio.networks.npr
From: hoey@aic.nrl.navy.mil (Dan Hoey)
Date: 1995/09/27
Subject: Exponential misuse

On National Public Radio's program "Morning Edition" for 27 September,
there was a listener's letter chiding the news writers for misusing
the term "exponential".  Apparently they had used the term to describe
a rise in the United Nations workforce from 3000 to 5000.  The
listener stated that this was an arithmetic increase, because an
exponential increase would have to be at least from a number to its
square: from 3000 to 9 million.

The colloquial misuse of mathematical terms (and "exponential" in
particular) is so widespread and egregious that it is disappointing
to hear such a blatantly spurious "correction".  (For the benefit of
the confused, the mathematical term "exponential" refers to a function
that grows by the same multiplicative factor over every like interval.
Thus a workforce that increases by 67 per cent each time period, as
above, would indeed be exponential.  A looser, but well-established,
technical usage includes functions that are in bounded proportion to
strict exponentials, such as a workforce that falls 1000 short of
doubling each time period, also consistent with the above data.)
Of course, the term has colloquially come to mean simply "rapidly
growing", so the entire issue is moot in the context of a broadcast
to a general audience.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch the details of the letter, so I'd
appreciate hearing from anyone who recalls the period of time over
which the UN workforce increased, or the exact numbers used (3000
and 5000 are my best recollection), or any other specifics of the
situation.

Please respond by e-mail to Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil; I'll summarize if
there is interest.  Thank you.

Dan Hoey
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil