Question

Alberta has a population growth rate of 3.1 % per year. Its population in 2007 was approximately 3.5 million.

a) Write an expression that predicts Alberta's population.

Answer 1

To predict Alberta's population with a growth rate of 3.1% per year from a 2007 population of 3.5 million, use the exponential growth formula P(t) = 3,500,000 × (1 + 0.031)t, where t is the number of years after 2007.

Step-by-step explanation:

To predict Alberta's population growth with a population growth rate of 3.1% per year, we can use an exponential growth model. Given that the population in 2007 was approximately 3.5 million, the expression can be written as:

P(t) = P0 × (1 + r)t

where P(t) is the population at year t, P0 is the initial population (3.5 million in 2007), r is the annual growth rate (0.031 for 3.1%), and t is the number of years since 2007.

So the complete expression for predicting Alberta's population at any given year after 2007 is:

P(t) = 3,500,000 × (1 + 0.031)t