Question

The population of a town is decreasing at a rate of 1.1% each year. If there are 3000 people in a town right now, how many people will be living in the town in 5 years. round the answer to the next whole number.

Answer 1

You use an exponential decay equation. The equation for exponential decay is:

`P(t) = P0(1-r)^t`,
where P(t) is the population in a period of time t,
P₀ is original population (3000 in this case),
r is the rate (1.1% in this case),
t is time (5 in this case).

So now substitute the values in.

`P(5) = 3000(1-0.011)^5`
P(5) = 2838.59
Directions say to round to the next whole number,
So the population in 5 years is 2838