CAIE P3 2010 November — Question 9

Exam BoardCAIE
ModuleP3 (Pure Mathematics 3)
Year2010
SessionNovember
TopicDifferential equations

9 A biologist is investigating the spread of a weed in a particular region. At time \(t\) weeks after the start of the investigation, the area covered by the weed is \(A \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\). The biologist claims that the rate of increase of \(A\) is proportional to \(\sqrt { } ( 2 A - 5 )\).
  1. Write down a differential equation representing the biologist's claim.
  2. At the start of the investigation, the area covered by the weed was \(7 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\) and, 10 weeks later, the area covered was \(27 \mathrm {~m} ^ { 2 }\). Assuming that the biologist's claim is correct, find the area covered 20 weeks after the start of the investigation.