Math help with percents

the population of a small town in montreal was 2600. the population increased by 5% one year and 15% in the second year.
a) what was the towns population after the first year?
b) what was the towns population after the second year?
c) by how many people did the towns population increase over the two years?

please show the procedure of how you solved these questions THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

to find a percent, you multiply the number by the decimal version of the percent. For example, 5% is 0.05 and 15% is 0.15. for part a, you will want to find the 5% of 2600 (by doing what i just said) and then add the number you get to 2600. you do the same thing for the 15%. then for part c, you just add the two amounts you got by multiplying the decimal versions of the percents.
Hope this helps :)

Percentage is nothing more than a ratio of X to Y things in the form of a fraction X/Y. This ratio is changed into a percentage simply by multiplying it by 100%. So, to get the ratio from percentage, simply divide the percentage by 100%. So, in this case, you need to know 5% of 2600 to add that amount to the 2600 which is 100%. You can make a ratio of 105%/100% and multiply that by 2600 also. Whichever way you prefer. 5%/100% = 0.05 = 5/100. 5/100*2600=130. At the end of 1 year, the answer is 2730. The second part says 15% increase, so now you need to figure out what 15% of 2730 is. 15%/100%=0.15=15/100. 15/100*2730=409.5. You can't have half a person, so you round. 409.5 rounds up to 410. 2730+410=3140. The total increase is 130+410=540. Do you see? does this make sense to you how fractions and ratios work to be a percentage? Another way to look at it is the denominator in the ratio is always fixed at 100, which is why I converted 5% to 5/100, and 15% to 15/100. Percentage is not hard. It is just a ratio with a fixed grouping of some number X out of a fixed group of 100. Any percentage can be converted to a decimal fraction simply by dropping the % symbol and moving the decimal point 2 places left. 5%=0.05, 15%=0.15, 37%=0.37, 14.7%=0.147. Then all you need do is multiply. 5% of 2600 can be written like this: 0.05*2600=130. So, you can go with a decimal fraction, 5%=0.05, or a ratio, 5%/100%=5/100. BOTH work equally well, so use whichever you prefer.

a) 2600 * 1.05 = 2730
b) 2730 * 1.15 = 3139.5 (?), round up to 3140
c) 3140 - 2600 = 540 people (population increase over two years).

A. 2600.00 B. 2730.00 C. 3139.50
X 1.05 X 1.15 - 2600.00
-------------- --------------- -----------------
2730.00 3139.50 539.50

a) 1.05*2600=2730 people
b) 1.15*2730=3139.5, so let's say 3140 people
c) 3140-2600=540 people