The population (in thousands) of people of a city is approximated by the function $P(t)=1100(2)^{0.1031 t}$, where $t$ is the number of years since 2011 . a. Find the population of this group in 2018. b. Predict the population in 2028 . a. The population of this group in 2018 is (Round to the nearest thousand as needed.)

Step 1 ：Given the function for population is \(P(t)=1100(2)^{0.1031 t}\), where \(t\) is the number of years since 2011.

Step 2 ：To find the population in 2018, we need to substitute \(t\) with the number of years from 2011 to 2018, which is 7.

Step 3 ：So, we need to calculate \(P(7)=1100(2)^{0.1031 \times 7}\).

Step 4 ：By calculating, we get \(P(7) = 1814.036549423391\).

Step 5 ：Rounding to the nearest thousand, we get \(P(7) = 1814\).

Step 6 ：Final Answer: The population of this group in 2018 is \(\boxed{1814}\) thousand.