Question

The number of newspaper subscriptions currently sold in a city is 15,895. The

number of newspaper subscriptions has been decreasing at a rate of 12.8% per year.
What is the best prediction for the number of newspaper subscriptions the company
will have in 5 years? Round answer to a whole number. Only type the number in the
blank, nothing else.

Answer 1

About 8014 subscriptions.

Explanation:

We can write an exponential function to model the situation.

The standard form of an exponential function is given by:

`f(x)=a(r)^x`

The current newspaper subscriptions is 15,895. So, a = 15895.

It has been decreasing at a rate of 12.8% each year.

In other words, the number of subscriptions next year will be 100% - 12.8% = 87.2% or 0.872 of the previous year. Thus, r = 0.872.

So, our function is:

`f(x)=15895(0.872)^x`

Where x is the time that has passed in years.

So the number of newspaper subscriptions after five years will be:

`f(5)=15895(0.872)^5\approx8014\text{ subscriptions}`