Math problem COME HERE IF YOUR REALLY GOOD AT MATH CUZ I CAN'T SOLVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Question

Imagine that you are an explorer . You have just landed on an island and you decide that eventually you would like to bring your friends and realatives there to live.You notice however there aren't any pigs on the island,and you all have exotic tastes: you and your friends and relatives simply adore pigs' feet. (Ok use your imagination here! Pigs' feet are considered a delicay by some,although frankly, I don't see it...) You decide to leave a male and a female pig on the island,go back and get your friends,and return and three years. These pigs will produce THREE LITTERS OF BABIES EACH YEAR (ONE EVERY FOUR MONTHS). There are ALWAYS TWO MALES AND TWO FEMALES IN EACH LITTER.

1) IF ALL THE FEMALES, NO MATTER HOW YOUNG OR HOW OLD, HAVE A LITTER (AS DESCRIBED ABOVE) EVERY FOUR MONTHS AND NO PIGS DIE, HOW MANY PIGS WILL BE ON YOUR ISLAND WHEN YOU RETURN? CAN YOU FIND ANY PATTERNS?
EXPLAIN YOUR STRATEGY AND REASOING PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 1

The pattern is that the number of piglings born will always be a multiple of 3 after the first litter.
1st litter=4
2nd litter=4+2x4=12
3rd litter=4+2x4+6x4=36
etc
This pattern is called a Geometric Progression or a GP
The formula for a GP is:
Number of piglings=4x(3^(n -1))
The above formula gives the number of piglings born in the 'n'th litter.
The number of pigs on the island will be given by adding all the 'n' terms of the GP and then adding 2 for the 1st 2 pigs.
The formual for that is:
Number of pigs= 2 + ((4x((3^n) - 1)) divided by (2))=39366

Answer 2

First year - a million pair of pig = a million X 3 X 4 (2 male, 2 female) = 12 pigs = 6 pairs 2nd year- 7 (first a million + 6 pairs of pig ) pairs = 7 X 3 x 4 = 80 4 pigs = 40 two pairs 0.33 year- 40 9 pairs = 40 9 X 3 X 4 = 588 pigs (ans) is this superb? You dont would desire to b stable at math, only spent some time.

Answer 3

This is exponential growth I think. BUt getting started to find the pattern is tough. Grab some cheerios or pebbles or something and make a model. You should see your original population begin to explode after the first two breedings. Figure out how much it grows by each time and then you can figure the rest with a calculator. Sorry but I spent 30 minutes trying to do this in my head.

Answer 4

I started by drawing x's and y's on paper to represent the babies, and soon realized that it is far too complex for my small brain to figure out. Good luck!

Answer 5

I was doing it out and it looks a lot like compound interest, so if you find the formula for compound interest, I think you should be able to figure it out. (Sorry. I forgot it and that's why I didn't give you it.)