Home schooling Pandemic 2020

Question

A certain forest covers an area of 1700 km^2. Suppose that each year this area decreases by 8.75%. What will the area be after 13 years?

Answer 1

y=ab^x

y=1700(1-8.75%)^13

y=1700(1-0.0875)^13

y=1700(0.9125)^13

y=1700(0.3041076538)

y=516.983 km^2

Answer 2

Hey Keitha!

This question is a typical decay problem. For these problems you can use the equation:

Value after k years = (start value)(1 - rate of decrease)^k

So for this problem you get:

Area after k years = 1700(1 - 0.0875)¹³ = 1700(0.9125)¹³ ≈ 516.98 km²

Hope this helped!

-Nathan