Starting with part a, question (i):
Find the average rate of change in both populations between 2002 and 2012.
Recall that the average rate of change of a function f(x) in the interval [ a, b] is given by the quotient:
rate of change = ( f(b) - f(a) ) / (b - a)
Therefore, for our population P1 case on the years 2002 and 2012 we have:
[ P1(2012) - P1(2002) ] / (2012 - 2002) = [62 - 42] / 10 = 20 / 10 = 2
for population P2 we have:
22 [72 - 82] /10 = -10/10 = -1
You can proceed doing the same process for the other cases (ii) and (iii).
Case (ii)Now part b of the problem:
Rate of change between 2002 and 2019:
99 [ 76 - 42] / ( 17) = 534 / 17 = 2
2(929 9[ 65 - 82] / 17 = -17 / 17 = -1
Case (iii)
Rate of change between 2007 and 2019:
9797 [76 - 52] / 12 = 24/12 = 2
22 [65 - 77] / 12 = -12 / 12 = -1
We see that the rates of change for each population remained constant over the years.
What we noticed in the table regarding both populations, is that while population P1 is increasing over the years, population P2 is going down in numbers year after year.
We can say therefore that P1 is INCREASING, while P2 is DECREASING. And that the rate of change they experienced was constant over the years.