IM Integrated Math 18 (IS895) \#90179 | Mastery Assess It-1 9. A population is increasing 4\% per year. Identify the growth factor that could be used to model the population. 1.4 1.04 0.4 0.04

To find the growth factor for a population increasing by 4% per year, you can convert the percentage increase into a decimal and then add 1. Since 4% as a decimal is 0.04, you would calculate 1 + 0.04 = 1.04. This means the growth factor is 1.04, which you can use in your mathematical models to project future population sizes. When working with growth problems, a common mistake is to misinterpret the percentage. It's easy to think that you should just use 0.04 directly, which represents the growth rather than the full growth factor. Remember, when you're modeling growth, you always add the percentage increase to 1!