Question

The population of one city was about 420,000 in 2010. The population of the city is projected to be about 260,000 in 2020. Find the percent decrease.

Answer 1

The percent decrease formula is:

$\text{ Percent decrease }=\frac{\text{ Final - Initial}}{\text{Initial}}\cdot100$

So, in this case, we have:

$\begin{gathered} \text{ Percent decrease }=\frac{420,000-260,000}{420,000}\cdot100 \\ \text{ Percent decrease }\approx38\text{\% }\Rightarrow\text{The symbol }\approx\text{ is read 'approximately'} \end{gathered}$

Therefore, the percent decrease is approximately 38%