Answer:
20,908
Explanation:
We can represent the amount of people after each year as 103% of the amount from the previous year. Using this logic, we can multiply the town's original population (its principal value) by 103% 7 times, because the increase happens every year. We can represent this in the equation:
P = (og. population) × 103%⁷
We can use an exponent of 7 to indicate repeated multiplication, and when plugging a percentage into a calculator, we have to represent it as a decimal (103% => 1.03).
P = 17,000 × 1.03⁷
P ≈ 20,907.86
P ≈ 20,908
Note that we rounded the population to the nearest whole number as instructed instead of performing a more realistic truncation of the partial person.