Suppose the population of a country in 1985 was 145 million. in 1995 it was 190 million. use the formula p = ae kt to setup an expression to estimate the population of the country in 2005.

Population growth can be modeled using an exponential function: P = Ae^kt Since it was given that: At 1985, P = 145 M and at 1995, P = 190 M, we could easily solve for the constants A and k 145 = Ae^k(1985) 190 = Ae^k(1995) Using natural logarithms to transform these equations to linear: Ln 145 – ln A = k(1985) ->eqn 1 Ln 190 – ln A = k(1995) -> eqn 2 Solving the system of equations: Ln A = -48.6759, A = 7.249x10^-22 k = 0.02702 P = (7.249 x 10 ^-22) e^ 0.02702t TIP: try not to round off values. Since the terms are exponential, a slight deviance of the constants will yield great differences in P