Question

A city's population has increased 40% in the last 5 years and is now 53,782 people.

What was the population 5 years ago?

Answer 1

Given:

A city's population has increased 40% in the last 5 years and is now 53,782 people.

To find:

The population 5 years ago.

Solution:

Let x be the population 5 years ago.

A city's population has increased 40% in the last 5 years.

So, present population is

`x+x* (40)/(100)=x+0.4x=1.4x`

It is given that the present population is 53782.

`1.4x=53782`

`x=(53782)/(1.4)`

`x=38415.7142857`

`x\approx 38416`

Therefore, the population 5 years ago was about 38416.