Final answer:
To find the number of cases of diabetes in 1973, we can use the given information that the number of cases in 2010 represents an increase of about 396%. By solving the equation, we find that there were approximately 31.31 million cases of diabetes in 1973.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the number of cases of diabetes in 1973, we can use the given information that the number of cases in 2010 represents an increase of about 396%. Let's assume the number of cases in 1973 is x.
396% of x is the increase from 1973 to 2010, which is 12.4 million.
Mathematically, we can write this as:
0.396x = 12.4
By solving this equation, we can find the value of x:
x = 12.4 / 0.396 ≈ 31.31 million
Therefore, there were approximately 31.31 million cases of diabetes in 1973.