The population, P, of a town is modelled by the equation P=6x^3 +7x +750, where x is the number of years since the year 1960.

Question

a) What was the population of the town in the year 1960?

P=6x^3 +7x +750
=6(60)^3 + 7(60) + 750
=6(216000)+420+750
=1296000+420+750
=1,297,170

The pop. was 1,297,170?

Answer 1

If x is the number of years since 1960, then for the year 1960, x=0.

So, P(0) = 750.

Looking at your work, it appears that x is the number of years since 1900. In that case, your answer is correct.

Answer 2

Its since 1960, so I plug in x=0 instead of 60?