I'll get my stick out and beat the horse a bit more as well.
Might be trigonometry, rather than geometry, although the two fields are related. But both are mathematical.
When I said proportional, imagine that two flat surfaces are set at an angle to each other. If one edge of the surfaces are touching, and a foot away, are 1 inch from each other, then 12 feet away from the touching edges would be 12 inches away. The proportional increase is 12 to 1.
An exponential effect would be if one of the surfaces was not flat but was parabolic shaped. The curve of that surface would be described by Height = Length ^2 (or squared), with the 2 component being the exponent. A cab/front clip would look pretty weird if it was parabolic.
Please ask John about that back pay.
Thanks.
