Question

Suppose the expression a(b)n models the approximate number of people who visited an aquarium each day since an aquarium opened, where a is the initial number of people who visited, b is the rate of increase in the number of people who visited each day, and n is the number of days since the aquarium opened. If the expression below models the number of visitors of a particular aquarium, what is the correct interpretation of the second factor? 63(1.3)^7

A. There were 9.1 times as many people who visited the aquarium on the 7th day as on the first day.
B. There were 10.2 times as many people who visited the aquarium on the 7th day as on the first day.
C. There were 1.3 times as many people who visited the aquarium on the 7th day as on the first day.
D. There were 6.27 times as many people who visited the aquarium on the 7th day as on the first day.

Answer 1

The correct answer is Choice D.

If you evaluate the expression, 63(1.3)^7, you get 395. The starting value of the expression is 63.

Just take 395 divided by 63 to get 6.27. This is the number of times larger the population is on the 7th day.