Distinguish between the situations that can be modeled with a linear function, an exponential functions or neither

Examples of linear functions would be relationships that represent a constant rate of change, such as 20 miles per gallon of gas.  Exponential functions would be relationships that represent a growth or decay the increases or decreases by an exponential amount, such as a bacterial growth that doubles each hour.  Examples of situations that would be neither linear or exponential would be absolute value functions or quadratic functions.

Step-by-step explanation:

Situations, or relationships between data, that can be modeled with a linear function must show a constant increase or decrease in rate.  For example, we could control the rate of temperature in a water bath by two degrees every ten minutes.  For exponential functions, these can be modeled in situations where there is a significant growth or decay of a material.  For instance, the radioactivity of an element will decrease by one-half every year.  This would represent an exponential decay.  For other types of situations, such as changes in body temperature (absolute value) or the speed of a kayaker (quadratic), these would not be modeled using either linear or exponential functions.