Question

The population of Watesville decreases at a rate of 1. 6% per year. If the population was 62,500 in 2014, what will it be in 2020?

Answer 1

1.6% can also be written as the decimal .016. Since the years between 2014 and 2020 is 6, we can multiply our decimal by 6 and then by the initial population.

So, your equation will look like this:

62500•6•.016
=6000

Now, this is only the difference of the population, not the answer, so you need to take your initial population and subtract the difference.

62500-6000=59500

The population in 2020 is 59500.