Week 4 CAPT Problem - 9th Grade


The Population Boom

A small town experienced a population boom during the 1990s. The table below shows the town's population from 1990 to 1997.

POPULATION GROWTH
Year Population
1990 159
1991 215
1992 289
1993 370
1994 494
1995 576
1996 652
1997 790

  1. On a sheet of graph paper, construct a graph of the population growth from 1990 to 1997. Use the year on the X-axis and the population on the Y-axis.








  2. Find an equation for the above chart ( y = mx + b).To find the slope(m) find the average of all your increases. The b value for your equation would be the population for the first year.








  3. Use your equation to predict the town's population in 2005. Explain how you arrived at this estimate.