Question

the population of a small town in central florida has shown a linear decline in the years 1989-1997 in 1989 the population was 30400 people in 1997 it was 24320 peopleA)Write a linear equation expressing the population of the town P as a function of T the number of years since 1989_______B) if the town is still experiencing a linear decline what will the population be in 2002?_____

Answer 1

1) Gathering the data

decline 1989-1997

1989: 30400 people

1997: 24320 people

A) Let's organize these data as a table :

x (year) | y( pop)

1 30400

8 24320

Let's now find the slope

Plugging into the formula

y=mx+b

30400 =-6080/7(1)+b

30400=-6080/7+b

30400+6080/7=b

31268.57=b

So the Linear equation is P =-124.08t+31268.57

2) Once we have the equation let's plug into that the year 2002, i.e. the 13th year

P=-6080/7(13)+31268.57

P=-11291.42+31268.5719

P(2002) =19977.15

The population in 2002 is approximately 19,977 people.