In 2000, an invasive plant species covered 0.2% of an island. for the 5 years that followed, the area covered by the plant tripled every year.
A student said "That means that about half of the island's area was covered by the plant in 2005!"

do you agree with his Statement? explain your reasoning.

Using an exponential function, it is found that the area covered in 5 years is of 48.6%, which is close to 50%, hence, the statement is correct.

An exponential function is modeled by:

In which:

In this problem:

Then, the equation is:

In five years, the area covered will be of:

The area covered in 5 years is of 48.6%, which is close to 50%, hence, the statement is correct.

To learn more about exponential functions, you can take a look at link

The statement is correct

see the explanation

Step-by-step explanation:

we know that

The equation of a exponential growth function is equal to

where

y  is the area covered by the plant in percentage

x is the time in years since 2000

r is the rate of change

a is the initial value

In this problem we have

substitute the values

In the year 2005

substitute the value of x in the exponential function

48.6% is about 50%

therefore

The statement is correct