When I was a kid I vividly remember the Faberge Shampoo commercials which, basically, were a one minute lesson in exponential growth.
These simple commercials hawking hair products I'd never buy, had one lasting effect on me...they introduced to me the mind-boggling concept behind the math of doubling a number, then doubling that sum through repeating time periods, perhaps, ad infinitum.
I cracked open my encyclopedias (Yes, at 15 years old I had a hardcover set of encyclopedias...the Wikipedia of the day.) and found interesting tidbits like this:
If I gave you a penny and told you I would double it the next day. Then, the day after that, I would double the two cents. Then, the day after that, I'd double the four cents...and so on, and so on, each day doubling the sum of the previous...but only for ONE MONTH, would you pay me $1,000 to do it?
"Naw, it's only a few cents and that ain't gonna add up to shit," you might say. Well, take a look at this:
Here's the payout of an exponential arrangement on a starting value of one penny for just thirty days:
Day 1: One penny.
Day 2: 2 cents.
Day 3: 4 cents.
Day 4: 8 cents.
Day 5: 16 cents.
Day 6: 32 cents.
Day 7: 64 cents.
Day 8: $1.28
Day 9: $2.56
Day 10: $5.12
Day 11: $10.24
Day 12: $20.48
Day 13: $40.96
Day 14: $81.92
Day 15: $163.84
Day 16: $327.68
Day 17: $655.36
Day 18: $1,310.72
Day 19: $2,621.44
Day 20: $5,242.88
Day 21: $10,485.76
Day 22: $20,971.52
Day 23: $41,943.04
Day 24: $83,886.08
Day 25: $167,772.16
Day 26: $335,544.32
Day 27: $671,088.64
Day 28: $1,342,177.28
Day 29: $2,684,354.56
Day 30: $5,368,709.12
Hmmm. Looks like a $1,000 investment to cash out on this scheme would have been a freakin' bargain!
But you see the awesomeness of this...
For the less than math proficient, a $1,000 investment in this scheme would seem risky for over two weeks...halfway through the agreed duration. Then, suddenly, the numbers rise dramatically. And, I mean, in leaps and bounds.
This is the magic of exponential growth.
I don't know about you, but right about now, I just wish I had me a bottle of that ol' Faberge shampoo to wash this shit right outta my hair.