The total freight transported by national highways in 2024 was 15 crore tonnes. Freight has been growing at an annual rate of 5 % for the last 3 consecutive years. What was the freight transported in 2021?

hard 5 marks Class 10 · Geography · Lifelines of National Economy

Answer

12.96 crore tonnes

The correct answer is 12.96 crore tonnes — Round to two decimal places: $12.96$ crore tonnes.

Step-by-step solution

Let $F$ be freight transported in 2021.
After one year (2022) it becomes $1.05 F$ ; after two years (2023) $1.0 5^{2} F$ ; after three years (2024) $1.0 5^{3} F$ .
Set $1.0 5^{3} F = 15$ crore tonnes.
Compute $1.0 5^{3} = 1.157625$ .
Solve for $F$ : $F = 15/1.157625 = 12.955$ crore tonnes.
Round to two decimal places: $12.96$ crore tonnes.

Common mistake: Applying the growth factor only twice or using wrong exponent

Concept tested: Growth rate and backward calculation