growth rate problem

[Guest]

this is a problem that i would like some help with:Down under high school has a annual growth rate of 8.5%. Three years ago there were 1200 students:
how many students are there now?
how many were there five years ago?
how many will there be in N years?

if you could give me any information about how i could go about this that would be great.

already i have used the equasion Y=IM^x and then used 1200 for I and 1.085 as M and 3 for x for the first question. please tlel me if im on the right path

 

[stapel]

i have used the equasion Y=IM^x....

What do "Y", "I", "M", and "x" stand for? (Not the numbers, but the definitions.)

Thank you.

Eliz.

 

[steve_b]

this is a problem that i would like some help withown under high school has a annual growth rate of 8.5%. Three years ago there were 1200 students:
how many students are there now?
how many were there five years ago?
how many will there be in N years?

if you could give me any information about how i could go about this that would be great.

already i have used the equasion Y=IM^x and then used 1200 for I and 1.085 as M and 3 for x for the first question. please tlel me if im on the right path

_________________

If I interpret your work correctly, you are on the right track.

To check your answers, I got 1533 (rounded) for the first answer, and 1019 for the second (rounded). For the second part, you have to use 2 for the exponent and solve for (your) I.

Steve