Question

a small college had 2570 students in 1994 and 2734 students in 1996. if the enrollment follows a linear growth pattern, how many students should the college have in 2004 ?

Answer 1

Answer: The final answer is 3390.

Explanation:

Before answering the question, you have to understand that a linear growth pattern is a straight-line pattern (not exponential growth).

-From 1994 to 1996 are 2 [years]

-In 2 [years], there is a growth of 2734-2570 = 164 [students]

-With a linear growth, we can take the above [number of students] (164) divided by 2 [years] to get a [growth rate] of 82 [students per year]
⇒
`(164)/(2) =82` [
`(number of students)/(years)` or number of students per year or growth rate]

-From 1996 to 2004, there are 8 [years]

-Therefore:

8 [years] × 82 [students per years] = 656 [students] => increased in students

-We add 656 [students] increased to 2734 [students] in 1996 = 3390 [students] in 2004

The final answer is 3390.

Hope this help. :D