The population of a city in thousands is modeled by the function, P(t)=0.2t^2 + 6t + 30, where P(t) is the population in thousands and t is the time in years since 1970.
What is the population in 1970?
(do i just sub in a 1 for t?)

Question

The population of a city in thousands is modeled by the function, P(t)=0.2t^2 + 6t + 30, where P(t) is the population in thousands and t is the time in years since 1970.
What is the population in 1970?
(do i just sub in a 1 for t?)

anonymous · Answer

yes substitute t=1970 into th equation.

anonymous · Answer

no... 
the equation is a model of the poplulation SINCE 1970.... so if you want to find out the population in 1970, you plug in t=0

anonymous · Answer

show me because i did that first and i got a population of 36.2 people and that cant be right

anonymous · Answer

@dpaInc  is correct

anonymous · Answer

the equation is a model.... so if you got a decimal, then you can either round it off or just truncate it....

anonymous · Answer

besides you should get 30 at t=0

anonymous · Answer

oh so the population really is 36 people. i thought that was illogical so i erased it

anonymous · Answer

if that's what you got P(0) = 36.2 ???
i got P(0) = 30 .....

anonymous · Answer

i completely forgot the population is in thousands, so its 30 000 then...that makes sense now!

anonymous · Answer

yea....:)