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Suppose the population of a town is 17,400 and is growing 2% each year.

Predict the population after 9 years.

User Imnotanelephant
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2 Answers

19 votes
19 votes

Answer: 20,532

Explanation:

17,400(.02)=348

348(9)=3132

17,400+3132=20,532

User Maarten Derickx
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2.9k points
21 votes
21 votes

Answer:

Explanation:

This is an exponential growth function of the form:


image where a is the initial population and b is the growth rate. This could also be written as


image which is a bit more accurate. We'll use that one. r is the percent growth: 2% for us.

Filling in the formula:


image and then simplifying:


image

That's the model for this population. Filling in any number of years for x will give you the population y. Our time is 9 years:


image

Take care of the exponents first, giving us:


image and then multiply to get

y = 20,794.6 or 20,794 people (since you can't have 6/10 of a person)

User Sean Gough
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3.0k points