Over the past ten years, the town's population doubled in size. The population is currently 12,000. Use the variable, P, to represent the town’s original population. Set up an equation and find the original population of the town ten years ago.

In the form of a paragraph, explain in complete sentences the steps necessary to set up the equation. Include the final equation in your explanation. Complete your work in the space provided or upload a file that can display math symbols if your work requires it.

The first step to solving the problem is to read and understand the question and the given information. The second step is to identify any relationships that exist between the given information and the question asked. These relationships might include properties of numbers, things you learn about functions, and relationships in geometry or trigonometry. In this problem, it's not that complicated.

Here, you're told to represent the town's initial population with the variable P. You're told that the population doubles to 12,000. You are asked to write an equation that lets you find the value of P, and use the equation to find that value.

If P is the original population, then double that population is 2P. That (doubled) amount is said to be 12,000, so we can write the equation as ...

2P = 12,000

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Dividing by 2, we find ...

P = 6,000

The original population of the town 10 years ago is 6,000.