Exponential Growth Mental Math
Exponential growth mental math for quant interviews, including doubling time, compound growth, rule-of-72 intuition, and scale checks.
Candidates preparing for growth, compounding, and approximation questions.
Growth compounds on the new base
Exponential growth means each period grows from the latest value. That makes repeated percentage increases faster than simple addition.
Use doubling time
If something doubles every period, after n periods it is multiplied by 2^n. Powers-of-two benchmarks make the scale easy to estimate.
Concrete example
A quantity that doubles ten times grows by about 1,000 times because 2^10 is 1,024. This is useful for rough scale checks.
Approximate compound rates
Rules like 72 divided by growth rate can give rough doubling time. State that it is an approximation, not an exact formula for every context.
Common mistakes
Candidates often add percentages repeatedly instead of compounding. If the base changes each period, use compound reasoning.
Practice the pattern
Use the LeetQuidity curriculum and calibration to turn this topic into a focused practice plan.