A town has a population of 17300 and grows at 2.5% every year. What will be the population after 7 years, to the nearest whole number?
To calculate the population after 7 years, we can use the formula for exponential growth:
Population after 7 years = Population * (1 + growth rate)^number of years
Population after 7 years = 17300 * (1 + 0.025)^7
Population after 7 years = 17300 * (1.025)^7
Population after 7 years = 17300 * 1.195618593
Population after 7 years = 20665.824634
Therefore, the population after 7 years will be approximately 20,666 to the nearest whole number.