Question

The population of bears in a national forest was measured to be 12,000 in 2003 and was measured again to be 15,000 in 2007. If the population continues to grow linearly at this rate, what will the bear population be in 2014?

Answer 1

The expected bear population in 2014 would be 20,250, assuming a continuous linear growth based on the increase from 12,000 bears in 2003 to 15,000 in 2007, which represents a growth rate of 750 bears per year.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves calculating the expected population of bears in a national forest in a future year, given linear growth from a past measurement. To find the expected population in 2014, we first determine the rate of growth between 2003 and 2007. The population increased from 12,000 bears in 2003 to 15,000 bears in 2007, which is a growth of 3,000 over 4 years or 750 bears per year.

To predict the bear population in 2014, we take the last known population in 2007, which is 15,000, and add the annual growth rate for the number of years from 2007 to 2014:

Population in 2014 = 15,000 + (750 bears/year × 7 years) = 15,000 + 5,250 = 20,250 bears.

Therefore, if the population continues to grow linearly at the observed rate, the expected bear population in the national forest in 2014 would be 20,250 bears.