Question

The population of San Antonio

is growing at a rate of 1.5%
and has a current population of
15.3 million people. What will
the population of SA be in one
year?

Answer 1

15.5 million

Step-by-step explanation:

The formula I used to solve this is Y = X + (X * R). X = current population, Y = projected population, R = growth rate.

Before we plug in our numbers, we have to convert the percentage to a decimal. This way, our numbers are all in the same units. (To use a metaphor to further explain - if I eat 100% of my cookie, I didn't eat 100 cookies. I ate 1 whole cookie. Similarly, a growth rate of 1.5% is not the same as the number 1.5, so we need to convert.)

The simplest way to convert a percentage to a decimal is to move the decimal point two places to the left. (I'm sure there's more correct math out there for this, but doing this will always work and I don't see a need to overcomplicate things LOL). That means 1.5% = 0.015

When we plug those numbers in and do the math, we get...

Y = 15,300,000 + (15,300,000 * 0.015)

Y = 15,300,000 + 229,500

Y = 15,529,500