Question

The population of a city increases at a rate proportional to the number of inhabitants present at any time t. If the population of the city was 200000 in 1990 and 250000 in 2000, what will be the population in 2010?

Answer 1

Let the population at any time t be P.

Given: $\frac{dP}{dt}\alpha P$

$$\begin{gathered} \Rightarrow \frac{dP}{dt}=\beta P \\ \Rightarrow \frac{dP}{P}=\beta dt \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=\beta t+\log C...\left(1\right) \\ \mathrm{Now}, \\ \mathrm{At}t=1990,P=200000\mathrm{and}\mathrm{at}t=2000,P=250000 \\ \therefore \log 200000=1990\beta +\log C...\left(2\right) \\ \log 250000=2000\beta +\log C...\left(3\right) \\ \mathrm{Subtracting}\left(3\right)\mathrm{from}\left(2\right),\mathrm{we}\mathrm{get} \\ \log 200000-\log 250000=10\beta \\ \Rightarrow \beta =\frac{1}{10}\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right) \\ \mathrm{Putting}\beta =\frac{1}{10}\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right)\mathrm{in}\left(2\right),\mathrm{we}\mathrm{get} \\ \log 200000=1990\times \frac{1}{10}\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right)+\log C \\ \Rightarrow \log 200000=199\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right)+\log C \\ \Rightarrow \log C=\log 200000-199\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right) \\ \mathrm{Putting}\beta =\frac{1}{10}\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right),\log C=\log 200000-199\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right)\mathrm{and}t=2010\mathrm{in}\left(1\right),\mathrm{we}\mathrm{get} \\ \log \left|P\right|=\frac{1}{10}\times 2010\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right)+\log 200000-199\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right) \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=201\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right)+\log 200000-199\log \left(\frac{5}{4}\right) \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=\log {\left(\frac{5}{4}\right)}^{201}-\log {\left(\frac{5}{4}\right)}^{199}+\log 200000 \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=\log \left\{{\left(\frac{5}{4}\right)}^{201}{\left(\frac{4}{5}\right)}^{199}\right\}+\log 200000 \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=\log \left\{{\left(\frac{5}{4}\right)}^2\right\}+\log 200000 \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=\log \left(\frac{25}{16}\times 200000\right) \\ \Rightarrow \log \left|P\right|=\log 312500 \\ \Rightarrow P=312500 \end{gathered}$$