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1 A radioactive substance decays at an exponential rate of 2% per day.

The initial mass is 80 g.

(a) Find the mass at the end of 5 days.

................................................... g [2]

(b) Find how many more whole days, after day 5, it takes for the mass to reduce to less than 67 g.

................................................... [3]

[Total: 5]
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2 At the start of June, a hive has a population of 2000 bees.

Three months after the start of June the hive has a population of 2662 bees.

The population of this hive can be calculated using the formula

where P is the population of the hive x months after the start of June.

By finding the value of a and the value of b, calculate the population of the hive 7 months after the start of
June.
Give your answer correct to the nearest integer.

................................................... [5]

[Total: 5]
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3 The profit a company makes decreases exponentially at a rate of 0.9% per year.
In 2014, the profit was $9500.

Calculate the profit in 2019.

$ ................................................... [2]

[Total: 2]

4 The population of one variety of butterfly is decreasing exponentially at a rate of 34% per year.
At the end of 2014, the population was 125.9 million.

Calculate the population at the end of 2019.

................................................... million [2]

[Total: 2]

5 The value of a campsite has increased exponentially by 1.5% every year since it opened 30 years ago.

Calculate the value of the campsite now as a percentage of its value 30 years ago.

................................................... % [2]

[Total: 2]
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6 The population of a village is 6400.

The population is decreasing exponentially at a rate of r% per year.
After 22 years, the population will be 2607.

Find the value of r.

r = ................................................... [3]

[Total: 3]

7 The number of newspapers sold decreases exponentially by x% each year.

Over a period of 21 years the number of newspapers sold decreases from 1 763 000 to 58 000.

Calculate the value of x.

x = ................................................... [3]

[Total: 3]
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8 In a city the population is increasing exponentially at a rate of 1.6% per year.

Find the overall percentage increase at the end of 20 years.

................................................... % [2]

[Total: 2]

When Heidi was born, her grandfather invested some money in an account that paid compound interest.
The graph shows the exponential growth of this investment.

(a) Use the graph to find

(i) the original amount of money invested,

$ ................................................... [1]
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(ii) the number of years it took for the original amount to double,

......................................... years [1]

(iii) the value of the investment after 54 years.

$ ................................................... [1]

(b) This account earned compound interest at a rate of r % per year.

Use your answers to part (a)(i) and part (a)(ii) to write down an equation in terms of r.
You do not have to solve your equation.

................................................... [2]

[Total: 5]

10 There are 30 000 lions in Africa.

The number of lions in Africa decreases exponentially by 2% each year.

Find the number of lions in Africa after 6 years.

Give your answer correct to the nearest hundred.

................................................... [2]

[Total: 2]
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11 The population of a city is increasing exponentially at a rate of 2% each year.

The population now is 256 000.

Calculate the population after 30 years.

Give your answer correct to the nearest thousand.

................................................... [3]

[Total: 3]

12 A bacteria population increases exponentially at a rate of r% each day.

After 32 days, the population has increased by 309%.

Find the value of r.

r = ................................................... [3]

[Total: 3]

13 Tomas has two cars.

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(a) The value, today, of one car is $21 000.

The value of this car decreases exponentially by 18% each year.

Calculate the value of this car after 5 years.

Give your answer correct to the nearest hundred dollars.

$ ................................................... [3]

(b) The value, today, of the other car is $15 000.

The value of this car increases exponentially by x % each year.
After 12 years the value of the car will be $42 190.

Calculate the value of x.

x = ................................................... [3]

[Total: 6]
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14 Over a period of 3 years, a company’s sales of biscuits increased from 15.6 million packets to 20.8 million
packets.
The sales increased exponentially by the same percentage each year.

Calculate the percentage increase each year.

................................................... % [3]

[Total: 3]

15 Newton has a population of 23 000.

The population decreases exponentially at a rate of 1.4% per year.

Calculate the population of Newton after 5 years.

................................................... [2]

[Total: 2]

16 It is estimated that the world’s population is growing at a rate of 1.14% per year.
On January 1st 2014 the population was 7.23 billion.

(a) Find the expected population on January 1st 2020.

.........................................billion [2]
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(b) Find the year when the population is expected to reach 10 billion.

................................................... [2]

[Total: 4]

17 At the start of an experiment there are 20 000 bacteria.

The number of bacteria increases at a rate of 30% per hour.

(a) Work out the number of bacteria after 4 hours.

................................................... [2]

(b) After how many whole hours, from the start of the experiment, will the number of bacteria be greater
than one million?

.........................................hours [2]

[Total: 4]

18 Robert buys a car for $8000.

At the end of each year the value of the car has decreased by 10% of its value at the beginning of that year.

Calculate the value of the car at the end of 7 years.

Answer $ ................................................... [2]

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[Total: 2]

19 The population of Dubai at the end of 2012 was 2.1 million.

This was predicted to increase at a rate of 6% each year.

Calculate the predicted population of Dubai at the end of 2015.

Answer ................................................... million [3]

[Total: 3]