Question

Talulah is an ecologist who studies the change in the penguin population of Antarctica over time. She observed that the population decays by a factor of 8/9 every 4 months. The population of penguins can be modeled by a function, P, which depends on the amount of time, t (in months). When Talulah began the study, she observed that there were 27,000 penguins in Antarctica. Write a function that models the population of the penguins t months since the beginning of Talulah's study. P(t) =

Answer 1

Answer:

P(t) = 27000 * (1/9)^(t/4)

Step-by-step explanation:

This problem can me modelled with an exponencial formula:

P = Po * (1+r)^t

Where P is the final value, Po is the inicial value, r is the rate and t is the amount of time.

In this problem, we have that the inicial population/value is 27000, the rate is -8/9 (negative because the population decays), and the time t is in months, so as the rate is for every 4 months, we use the value (t/4) in the exponencial.

So, our function will be:

P(t) = 27000 * (1-8/9)^(t/4)

P(t) = 27000 * (1/9)^(t/4)

Answer 2

Answer:

P(t) = 27000 * (8/9)^(t/4)

Step-by-step explanation: