How to find initial population?

bd40

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Jan 8, 2013
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Can anyone tell me if this is the way to solve this equation. The growth of a population in millions is modeled by 3.2*(4.74)^t What is the population initially?

I have used bg^t formula but I don't have clue what the exponent would be or how to find the initial population.:(
b= 3.2
g= 4.7
 
Can anyone tell me if this is the way to solve this equation. The growth of a population in millions is modeled by 3.2*(4.74)^t What is the population initially?

I have used bg^t formula but I don't have clue what the exponent would be or how to find the initial population.:(
b= 3.2
g= 4.7

t stands for time. So the initial population is before any time has elapsed i.e. t = 0. Substitute t = 0 into the equation and you get 3.2*(4.74)^0. You should know that anything raised to the zero power is one, therefore the initial population is 3.2 million.

In general, the initial population of the form b*g^t like the equation you stated is simply b.
 
t stands for time. So the initial population is before any time has elapsed i.e. t = 0. Substitute t = 0 into the equation and you get 3.2*(4.74)^0. You should know that anything raised to the zero power is one, therefore the initial population is 3.2 million.

In general, the initial population of the form b*g^t like the equation you stated is simply b.

Great! I didn't even think about inserting 0 duh. Sometimes I read too much into a problem. Thanks very much!
 
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