SOLUTION: In the year 2005, the population of New York state was 19.26 million and increasing exponentially with growth constant 0.0021. The population of Florida was 17.79 million and incre

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Question 376981: In the year 2005, the population of New York state was 19.26 million and increasing exponentially with growth constant 0.0021. The population of Florida was 17.79 million and increasing exponentially with growth constant 0.0131. Assuming these trends were to continue, in what year should the population of Florida equal the population of New York?
Answer by bostonmathtutor(8) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
We need to set up the equality using the exponential function and solve for t (years).
19.26*exp(.0021t) = 17.79*exp(.0131t)
Take the natural log of both sides to get:
ln(19.26) + .0021t = ln(17.79) + .0131t
Natural logs are constant so I will convert those to decimals and combine like terms:
.0794 = .011t
t = 7.218 years