Edexcel C34 2016 June — Question 9

Exam BoardEdexcel
ModuleC34 (Core Mathematics 3 & 4)
Year2016
SessionJune
TopicDifferential equations

9. \begin{figure}[h]
\includegraphics[alt={},max width=\textwidth]{8d67f716-c8af-4460-8a6b-62073ba9b825-17_574_1333_260_303} \captionsetup{labelformat=empty} \caption{Figure 2}
\end{figure} The population of a species of animal is being studied. The population \(P\), at time \(t\) years from the start of the study, is assumed to be $$P = \frac { 9000 \mathrm { e } ^ { k t } } { 3 \mathrm { e } ^ { k t } + 7 } , \quad t \geqslant 0$$ where \(k\) is a positive constant.
A sketch of the graph of \(P\) against \(t\) is shown in Figure 2 .
Use the given equation to
  1. find the population at the start of the study,
  2. find the value for the upper limit of the population. Given that \(P = 2500\) when \(t = 4\)
  3. calculate the value of \(k\), giving your answer to 3 decimal places. Using this value for \(k\),
  4. find, using \(\frac { \mathrm { d } P } { \mathrm {~d} t }\), the rate at which the population is increasing when \(t = 10\) Give your answer to the nearest integer.