The populations, P, of six towns with time t in years are given by:

Question

I) P=1000(1.08)^t
II) P= 600(1.12)^t
III) P = 2500(0.9)^t
IV) P=1200(1.185)^t
V) P=800(0.78)^t
VI) P=2000(0.99)^t

a. Which towns are growing in size? Which are shrinking?
b. Which town is growing the fastest? What is the annual percent growth rate for that town?
c. Which town is shrinking the fastest? What is the annual percent "decay" rate for that town?
d. Which town has the largest initial population (at t=0)? Which town has the smallest?

Answer 1

growing: 1,2,4
fastest growth: 4 @ 18.5%
fastest shrink: 5 @ 22%
largest: 6
smallest: 2