Higher June 2019 Paper 6 Q22

OCRHigherCurrent spec6 marksPercentages

22 At the start of 2018, the population of a town was 17 150.
At the start of 2019, the population of the town was 16 807.

It is assumed that the population of the town is given by the formula

\[P = ar^t\]

where \(P\) is the population of the town \(t\) years after the start of 2018.

(a) Write down the value of \(a\). [1]
(b) Show that \(r = 0.98\). [1]
(c) Show that the population is predicted to be less than 16 000 at the start of 2022. [2]
(d) Use the formula to work out what the population might have been at the start of 2017. [2]