Activity 1.3.2.
According to the US census, the populations of Kent and Ottawa Counties in Michigan where GVSU is located (Grand Rapids is in Kent, Allendale in Ottawa) from 1960 to 2010 measured in \(10\)-year intervals are given in the following tables.
| Year: | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 |
| Kent County population: | 363,187 | 411,044 | 444,506 | 500,631 | 574,336 | 602,622 |
| Year: | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 |
| Ottawa County Population: | 98,719 | 128,181 | 157,174 | 187,768 | 238,313 | 263,801 |
Let \(K(Y)\) represent the population of Kent County in year \(Y\) and \(W(Y)\) the population of Ottawa County in year \(Y\text{.}\)
(a)
(b)
What are the units on each of the quantities you computed in (a.)?
(c)
Write a careful sentence that explains the meaning of the average rate of change of the Ottawa county population on the time interval \([1990,2010]\text{.}\) Your sentence should begin something like “In an average year between 1990 and 2010, the population of Ottawa County was \(\ldots\)”
(d)
Which county had a greater average rate of change during the time interval \([2000,2010]\text{?}\) Were there any intervals in which one of the counties had a negative average rate of change?
(e)
Using the given data, what do you predict will be the population of Ottawa County in 2018? Why?
