The difference between linear growth and exponential growth, in the simplest terms possible, is the difference between a straight line and one that curves upward.

We've been told for years that technological progress was becoming exponential. If we look at how innovation in the economy is progressing, however, it looks rather linear.

Unlike linear growth, which advances by adding a constant amount, exponential growth multiplies by a specific factor, leading to increasingly rapid gains.

Fast growth is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for growth to be called exponential. For that to happen, it should follow a specific pattern ...

It is accustomed to more gradual shifts—even linear growth that happens rapidly ends up being very different than exponential growth.