Question

An artifact is discovered at a certain site. if it has 59% of the carbon-14 it originally contained, what is the approximate age of the artifact to the nearest year? (carbon-14 decays at the rate of 0.0125% annually.)\

Answer 1

0.59  = (1 - 0.000125)^^x    where x =  number of years of decay

ln 0.59  = x ln(0.999875)

x = 4221  to nearest year