Question

You are planning on using circles to compare the populations of California 37,691,000, Texas 25,675,000, and New York 19,465,000. If the circle for New York will have a 5 cm radius, how large should the radii for Texas and California be? Round to the nearest tenth of cm.

Answer 1

If the population is proportional to the area of the circle, we can use the variation equation:
P1/r1^2 = P2/r2^2
with
P1 = 19465000
r1 = 5
P2 = 25675000
r2 = ?
19465000 / 5^2 = 25675000 / r2^2
r2 = 5.74 inches