Question

The initial population of a town in the year 2010 was 20 000. By 2014, the population had grown exponentially to 32 500 people. Write an equation to represent the population of the town (P) over time in years (n).

Answer 1

P = 20000×1.625^(n/4)

Explanation:

An exponential equation can be written using the given data:

value = (initial value)×(growth factor in period)^(n/(period))

Here, the growth is by a factor of 32500/20000 = 1.625, and the period is 4 years. Then your exponential equation is ...

P = 20000×1.625^(n/4)