In 2007 the population of the town of cartersville was 24,455. the population growth can be represented by the formula p = 24,455(1.03)x, where x represents the number of years after 2007. when will the population of the town first exceed 30,000?

If represents population, and represents the number of years after 2007, then we need to set to and solve for , then add that to 2007.  



Now divide each side by to solve for .  



represents the number of years since 2007, so to get a year value, we need to add to 2007.

That gives you .  We don't represent years with decimals, so the answer would be 2008.