Neither of those explanations are correct...
The first one states that you multiply 19.5% by 15 to find the total amount of decay. But in the problem you need to raise 19.5% to the 15th power instead of multiply it by 15...
For the second one, decay doesn't work at a common rate...decay is taking off a chunk of the remainder of what's left not of the original total.
Hope this helps!