One model of Earth's population is given by
280
P(t) = 4 + 66€-0.0215*
In this equation, P(t) is the population in billions and t is the number of years after 1980. Round answers to the nearest hundred million people.
(a) According to this model, what was Earth's population in the year 2000?
billion people
(b) According to this model, what will be Earth's population in the year 2011?
billion people
(c) If t is very large, say greater than 500, then e-0.021 = 0. What does this suggest about the maximum population that Earth can support?
• The population will grow without bound.
• The maximum population the Earth can support is 280 billion people.
• The population will eventually drop to 0.
• The maximum population the Earth can support is 35 billion people.
• The maximum population the Earth can support is 70 billion people.