Question

A town's population has been growing linearly. In the beginning of 2000, the population was 36000, and the population in 2006 is 49200.

Write an equation for the population of the town where x represents the number of years after the beginning of 2000. P(x)=

What is/was/will be the population in the 2009?

How many years from the beginning of 2000 did/will it take the population to reach 75800?

Answer 1

well you need to find the slope of the line change in population/change in time

the 2 points are (2000, 36000) and (2006, 49200)

when you get the slope, m

then you will have an equation

y = mx + b

use either point to find b

Answer 2

ah okay thanks, so y2-y1/x2-x1 to find the slope?

Answer 3

yep thats it... populations on top... time in the denominator

Answer 4

i get 12800/6 then plug it into an equation and get y=12800/6x+b to find be i solve for it therefore getting 36000=12800/6(0)+b 0 because x represents the number of years

Answer 5

therefore b=36000

Answer 6

seems to make sense.... looking at the calculations.

Answer 7

Inputted the calculations and got it wrong

Answer 8

p/x=12800/6x+36000

Answer 9

well isn't the change in population 49200 - 36000 =13200

which is divisible by 6

so m = 2200

so the equation is

y = 2200x + b

so b is still 36000

hence the equation is

y = 2200x + 36000

Answer 10

ohh I did y2-y1/x2-x1
So I didn't need to do that then?

Answer 11

well its the same thing..... you just had the change in population as 12800 when it should be 13200.

the rest is correct...

I just read you solution and thought... 12800/6 seemed odd... in that is wasn't an integer answer

Answer 12

oh okay, makes sense math was off then, so now to figure out for 75,800 population I plug in 75800 in y and solve for x?

Answer 13

yes and for the 2009... plug in x = 9

Answer 14

i got the 2009 one but the 75800 i get a decimal, i get 18.0909090....