This is a simulation of exponential growth as set out by Dennis Sherwood in his book, Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A manager's guide to applying systems thinking. The story of the frogs is this:
A
colony of frogs is living happily on one side of a large pond. At the other side of the pond is a lily
pad. One day, a chemical pollutant flows
into the pond, which has the effect of stimulating the growth of the lily pad
so that it doubles every 24 hours. This
is a problem for the frogs, for if the lily pad were to cover the pond
entirely, the frog colony would be wiped out.
•Q1: how would you describe the growth of
the lily pad?
•Q2: if the lily-pad can cover the entire
pond in 50 days, on what day is the pond half covered?
•Q3: The frogs have a method of stopping
the growth of the lily-pad, but it takes them 10 days to put their method into
effect. What proportion of the pond is
covered at the latest possible time the frogs can take action to save
themselves?
