The population of a city decreases by 3.8% per year. What should we multiply the current population by to find next year's population in one step?

Answer 1

To find next year's population based on a current population that decreases by 3.8% per year, you can use the following steps:

1. Understand that a 3.8% decrease means the population retains $100$ of its current population.

2. Convert the percentage into a decimal for calculation. $96.2$ as a decimal is $0.962$.

3. To find next year's population, you multiply the current population by $0.962$.

Thus, to find next year's population in one step, you should multiply the current population by 0.962.