Applications of Slope

Question

In one part of the​ world, the sea lion population decreased approximately linearly from about 50 thousand in

1987 to about 28 thousand in 2004. Find the average rate of change of the sea lion population per year.

Answer 1

Hello, please take a look below:

Average rate of change is the change in outputs (sea lion population) divided by the change in inputs (years).

Lets assign each data point an input and output value (x,y) with x = year and y = population amount

1987 : (1987, 50000)

2004 : (2004, 28000)

Math: slope formula is used for average rate of change. Change in y's over change in x's.

50000 - 28000 = 22000

1987 - 2004 -17

Divide 22000/ -17 to get -1,294.118.

Final Answer depends on rounding, but it should be something like -1.3 thousand/year