Final answer:
The question lacks sufficient context to provide a specific answer about the numbers from the late 1970s and early 1980s. Data interpretation depends on knowing if these figures refer to something like population growth, economic indicators, or another measurable factor.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to a set of numbers from a data set which could indicate anything from population, production numbers, or any other quantitative measure. Unfortunately, the question 'How many were there in the late 1970s and early 1980s?' lacks context and does not specify what 'were there' refers to.
To provide a meaningful answer, it is important to know the subject matter of the data. For example, looking at the provided data it could be interpreted as follows:
- If the numbers refer to world population growth, we can cross-examine this with the information provided that indicates the world population reached 4 billion in 1975 and 5 billion in 1987.
- If the numbers are about technological growth, such as computer sales or manufacturing output, then we would have to look at economic or industrial reports from that period.
Without further context, it's impossible to give an accurate answer to the question about the data from the late 1970s and early 1980s.