Can you show a step by step? Each year for the past five years the population of a certain country has increased at a steady rate of 2.7% per annum. The present population is 15.2 million. (a) What was the population one year ago? (b) What was the population five years ago? Solution let the population 5 years ago was P. now each year it increases at 2.7% so at any yeat T, population will be P*(1+0.027)^T so at T=5, P*(1.027)^5=15.2 P=13.304 million a)population 1 year ago means at T=4 answer=P*(1.027)^4=14.8 million b)answer=13.304 million.