I need to find the average rate of change

Question

in 1875 the number of high school dropouts in a country was 5217 thousand. by 2003, this number has decreased to 3118 thousand. find and interpret the average rate of change per year in the number of high school dropouts

Answer 1

Average rate of change =

         

                    (change in number of dropouts)/(change in time)

 

                 = (3,118,000 - 5,217,000)/(2003 - 1875) 

 

                 = -16,398.4375

 

The number of high school dropouts decreased at the average rate of approximately 16,398 students per year from 1875 to 2003.