From 1500 to 2010, the population growth is described as which model?

• A. Linear
• B. Quadratic
• C. Exponential
• D. Logarithmic

Answer: (C)

Growth that is proportional to how many individuals are already present leads to an exponential pattern. In this view, the bigger the population gets, the faster it grows because each generation adds a proportional number of people. Looking at the span from 1500 to 2010, the world population rises from hundreds of millions to about seven billion, and the rate of increase itself grows over time. That accelerating, curved trajectory is characteristic of exponential growth. A linear model would show a constant amount added each period, which doesn’t fit the increasingly larger increments seen here. A quadratic model rises faster than linear but wouldn’t capture the constant proportional growth over centuries in the same way. A logarithmic model climbs quickly at first and then levels off, which isn’t what's observed across this long interval. So the exponential model best describes this history of population growth.