The human population of the world is over 6 billion. The increase of the human population P (in billions) can be approximated using the following formula: P = 0.073t + 6.08, where t is the number of years after the year 2000. Use the formula to predict how many years it will for the world population to reach 8 billion. Express your answer to the nearest whole number.
To predict how many years it will take for the world population to reach 8 billion, we can use the given formula: P = 0.073t + 6.08, where P represents the population in billions and t represents the number of years after the year 2000.
Let's substitute P = 8 into the formula:
8 = 0.073t + 6.08
To find the number of years t, we need to isolate t.
Rearranging the formula:
0.073t = 8 - 6.08
0.073t = 1.92
Now, divide both sides of the equation by 0.073:
t = 1.92 / 0.073
Using a calculator, we can find t to be approximately 26.3 years.
However, since we need to express the answer in whole numbers, we round 26.3 to the nearest whole number, which is 26.
Therefore, it will take approximately 26 years for the world population to reach 8 billion.