Answer:
55,000 people.
Step-by-step explanation:
40,700 is the population after the 26% decrease.
This means that 40,700 is 74% of the previous population. We can create an equation to represent this. First we'll convert 74% to a decimal.
74% = 0.74
Now, let's make an equation.
0.74x = 40,700
(Keep in mind that x is the previous population and the co-efficient, 0.74, represents that 0.74/100 of the previous population is 40,700)
Solve the equation by multiplying (100/74) on each side.
x = 55,000
So the previous population was 55,000 people.