A certain forest covers an area of 3500 km2. Suppose that each year this area decreases by 6.25%. What will the area be after 14 years?

Question

A certain forest covers an area of 3500 km2. Suppose that each year this area decreases by 6.25%. What will the area be after 14 years? round your answer to the nearest square kilometer. 

Answer 1

If it decreases by 6.25% each year, then at the end of a year there will remain (100 - 6.25)% = 93.75% of it, which is 0.9375 times the amount at the start of the year.  Keep this up for 14 years starting with 3500 km² and you will finish with

 

(3500 km²) (0.9375)¹⁴ ≅ 1418 km²