Population of Mexico and United States
In this project we are going to compare the populations of Mexico and the United States. The table below contains the population of Mexico rounded to the nearest 10,000 for the years 1980 through 1986 and the table below that contains the population of the United States rounded to the nearest 10,000 for the same years.
a. Find the rate of increase of the population of Mexico from 1980 to 1986 and use this to write
an exponential equation of the form P = Poert (where you have supplied the values for r and P0.)
|
Year |
Population |
|
1980 |
67,380,000 |
|
1981 |
69,130,000 |
|
1982 |
70,930,000 |
|
1983 |
72,770,000 |
|
1984 |
74,660,000 |
|
1985 |
76,660,000 |
|
1986 |
78,590,000 |
Population of Mexico
b. Find the rate of increase of the population of the United States from 1980 to 1986 and use this to write an exponential equation of the form P = Poert (where you have supplied the values for r and P0.)
| Year | Population |
| 1980 | 227,220,000 |
| 1981 | 229,470,000 |
| 1982 | 231,660,000 |
| 1983 | 233,790,000 |
| 1984 | 235,820,000 |
| 1985 | 237,920,000 |
| 1986 | 240,130,000 |
Population of United States
c. Using the equations from parts a and b, when will the population of Mexico be the same as the population of the United States?
d. Now assume that the population growth for the United States is better described by a linear function. Find a line that best fits the data for the population of the United States population.
e. Graph the linear equation for the United States population and the exponential equation for the Mexico population on the same set of axes with time as the independent variable. Use this graph to estimate when the population of Mexico will be the same as the population of the United States.
f. Discuss in writing the reasonableness of your answers to part c and to part e.