There are approximately 400 million trees currently growing in the Amazon Rainforest, which covers approximately 5.5 million square kilometers. The rainforest is being cleared at a rate of 20,000 square kilometers per year to make way for new farmland and to harvest wood for building supplies. Before this year, 250,000 square kilometers had already been cleared. A preservation consortium is trying to mitigate the loss of rainforest by planting new trees. They have already planted 3,000 square kilometers of trees and plan to plant 100 square kilometers of trees each year.
Given:
400 million trees in 5.5 million square km
clearing rate: 20,000 square km per year.
250,000 square km has already been cleared.
Already planted 3,000 square km
plant 100 square km of trees per year
Create an equation to represent the rainforest area deforested, AD, in thousands of square kilometers, after t years.
AD = 20,000km²(t) + 250,000km²
Create an equation to represent the rainforest area planted with new trees, AP, in thousands of square kilometers, after t years.
AP = 100km²(t) + 3,000 km²