[Dake]

Originally Posted by chrisl

Technically, no, it isn't. Exponential means that it is of the form k^x, where k is some constant. Quadratic is a special case of polynomial, which is of the form k0 + k1*x + k2*x^2+k3*x^3+...+kn*x^n (where k0, k1, k2... are constants). Exponentials grow much faster than polynomials (in the limit as x --> inf), which is why I said quadratic drag is quite a bit better than if it were to increase exponentially.

http://www.knewance.com/comparisons/...ic-growth.html
http://www.math.ucla.edu/~bnelson6/E...ial_Growth.pdf

(and as I said before, I know I'm being pedantic, but I can't help it on technical topics, since I'm an engineer...)

It's generally accepted that drag increases with the square of the speed. For the purposes of the discussion, the result is the same: lots more gas to go a little faster.