I need help with a math question

And if you want to be real fancy you can also include the formula. I'd really appreciate that.

This isn't for school or a test or anything like that.

I'm in a debate right now with someone who claims an annual 1% increase would take a thousand years.

:help:
 
ok start at a population of 100,

(.01y)(100)=200 (solve for y)

I think thats how it is..... its 12.30am, im tired, i'll try helping you tommorow, something doesnt seem right with my equation....

btw i didnt look at wikipedia, i wanna see if i can do it without help.....
 
If a population grew 1% every year, how long would it take before it doubles?

Less than 100 years, right?

Right.
 
nvm my equation was wrong, didnt come out right when i tried it.
 
70 years
 
Thanks for your help everybody.

I'm debating an engineer (very proficient in math) on another message board about how long it will take Earth's population to double at a sustained growth rate of 1%.

He claims "simple math" tells us that will take until at least the year 3000.

I pointed out to him that 1% is 1/100th (not 1/1000th) and then there's the factor of it being compounded like in interest.

He says I'm "over-simplifying it greatly" and cites all these complicated math concepts I've never heard of. I understand that our growth rate might slow down and our population might level-off, but still.

Oh well.
 
Might want to remind him that all those cool concepts and formulas he learned only work when they're appropriate. Ypu can't use Pi to figure out the angles of a triangle. I'm completly stupid when it comes to math, and I'll do it the simple way. If the population increased EXACTLY 1% of the original amount every year, it would take 100 years to double. If you started with 100 people, that would mean 1 (1%) added annually, which would give you 200 in 100 years. Given that that doesn't compund I think the aforementioned 70 years would likely be right.
 
If you have
YEAR & COUNT
  1. 1 person
  2. 1.01 people
  3. 1.0201 people
  4. 1.030301 people
  5. 1.04060401
  6. 1.0510100501
  7. 1.061520150601
  8. 1.07213535210701
  9. 1.0828567056280801
  10. 1.093685272684360901
  11. 1.10462212541120451001
  12. 1.1156683466653165551101
  13. 1.126825030131969720661201
  14. 1.13809328043328941786781301
  15. 1.1494742132376223120464911401
  16. 1.160968955369998535166956051501
  17. 1.172578644923698520518625612016
  18. 1.1843044313729355057238118681362
  19. 1.1961474756866648607810499868175
  20. 1.2081089504435315093888604866857
Well ..... after 11 years you get 10% of a person
............ at twenty years you get about 20%

What do you think?
 
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