Exponentials Problem

[Guest]

Please Help!
A student looking at global population figures remarks that between the
years 1950 and 2010 the global population can be modelled by the
equation
300y = 23t − 44 180 (1950 ≤ t ≤ 2010),
where y is the global population in billions (109) at the start of year t, and t is the year.

[Guest]

The question is...
Find the global population at the start of 1960 according to this
model

[HallsofIvy]

You titled this "Exponentials problem" but I see know exponential anywhere in the problem!

Taking what you wrote the "population at the beginning of 1960" is just a matter of replacing t with 1960 and solving the equation:
300y = 23(1960) − 44 180 = 900

y= 900/300= 3. The populatio at the beginning of 1960 was 3 billion.

Added: I wondered what that "109" after "billions" meant and finally it occurred to me that you meant "10^9" or 1000000000. So perhaps you meant 23^t instead of 23t or 300^y rather than 300y. If either of those is correct please tell us.

[Guest]

And is t "the year" or the number of years since 1960?