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On the first day of spring, an entire field of flowering trees blossoms. The population of locusts consuming these flowers rapidly increases as the trees blossom. The locust population increases by a factor of 5 every 22 days, and can be modeled by a function, L, which depends on the amount of time, t (in days).

Before the first day of spring, there were 7600 locusts in the population.
Write a function that models the locust population t days since the first day of spring.
L(t) = left parenthesis, t, right parenthesis, equals

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Final answer:

The locust population can be modeled by the exponential function L(t) = 7600 * (5((t-22)/22)). The function takes into account the initial population, the growth factor of 5, and the number of 22-day periods that have passed since the start.

Step-by-step explanation:

The locust population can be modeled by an exponential function.

Since the locust population increases by a factor of 5 every 22 days, we can write the function as L(t) = 7600 * (5^((t-22)/22)).

Let's break down the function:

  1. We start with the initial population of 7600 locusts.
  2. The factor of 5 represents the population increasing by 5 times.
  3. The exponent ((t-22)/22) represents the number of 22-day periods that have passed since the start.

Therefore, the function that models the locust population t days since the first day of spring is L(t) = 7600 * (5^((t-22)/22)).

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