Thread: rate of population growth!

The population P of a town has a rate of change proportional to the difference between P and 15,000. This may be expressed as dP/dt = k(P - 15000), where k = 0.2 and t = time in years. Find the population after one year

here is how I decided to do it. can someone please check?



initially,









when t = 1





this is not the answer. the answer is 22,000.


what did i do wrong?

Originally Posted by differentiate

The population P of a town has a rate of change proportional to the difference between P and 15,000. This may be expressed as dP/dt = k(P - 15000), where k = 0.2 and t = time in years. Find the population after one year

here is how I decided to do it. can someone please check?



initially,









when t = 1





this is not the answer. the answer is 22,000.


what did i do wrong?

Do you have the right initial condition? You didn't specify it in the question...

ohh sorry, I forgot. It was:

If the population at the beggining of 1960 was 21,000, find the population after one yaer

I can't see anything wrong with your working out, I keep getting the same answer.

alright thanks man. The book I'm working on keeps having incorrect answers!