Question

The population of a city was 177 thousand in 1992. The exponential growth rate was 1.3% per year. a) Find the exponential growth function in terms of t, where t is the number of years since 1992. P(t)=

Answer 1

The function would be P(t) = 177,000(1.013)^t

It starts off with a pop. of 177,000 and multiplies by 1 for itself and .013 for the 1.3%. It is at a power of t because the percent of change will increase value the more years the population grows.

1.013 x 1.013 = 2 years and 1.013 x 1.013 x 1.013 = 3 years and so on.