Intermediate Algebra for College Students (7th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0-13417-894-7
ISBN 13: 978-0-13417-894-3

Chapter 8 - Section 8.2 - The Quadratic Formula - Exercise Set - Page 609: 78

Answer

$19$ years old; $72$ years old;

Work Step by Step

In order to determine the age group expected to be involved in $10$ fatal crashes per $100$ million miles driven, we solve the equation $f(x)=10$ using the Quadratic Formula: $$\begin{align*} 0.013x^2-1.19x+28.24&=10\\ 0.013x^2-1.19x+28.24-10&=0\\ 0.013x^2-1.19x+18.24&=0\\ x&=\dfrac{-(-1.19)\pm\sqrt{(-1.19)^2-4(0.013)(18.24)}}{2(0.013)}\\ &\approx\dfrac{1.19\pm 0.684}{2(0.013)}\\ x_1&\approx 19\\ x_2&\approx 72. \end{align*}$$ The function does not model the actual data too well because age $19$ corresponds to a number of fatal crashes between $6.2$ and $9.5$ in the bar graph, while the age $72$ corresponds to a number of fatal crashes between $3.8$ and $8$ in the bar graph.
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