The population of masterton was 23 000 in 2012. assume that masterton population increases at a rate of 2% per year. write an equation to model the population of masterton (y) based on number of years since 2012(x)

So, let's first focus on the first year:

the population then would be: 23000* (100+2)%

100% is the old population the 2% is the incease, so in total it's 102%, or 1.02 - the same number written differently.

So it will be 23000*1.02

After two years it will be 23000*1.02*1.02, and so on

so after x years it will be:

y=23000*

38 dollars is your answer.