- #1
nomadreid
Gold Member
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The fact that radioactive decay and continuous compound interest end up with the same formula (with the "rate" being negative in the former and positive in the latter) seems to me to be more a result of the ubiquity of the exponential function in solving differential equations than any common physical principle underlying both processes --the mechanism for the interest requires a "memory" and is dependent on the total, whereas the probability for each particle cannot be dependent on any memory or influence from other particles . But I could easily be wrong. If I am, could someone elucidate this principle?