Use a Graphing Calculator to Plot the Data and Find

question 240

Essay

Use a graphing calculator to plot the data and find the quadratic function of best fit.
-The following table shows the median number of hours of leisure time that Americans had each week in
various years. $\begin{array}{l|lllll}\text { Year } & 1973 & 1980 & 1987 & 1993 & 1997 \\\hline \text { Median \# of Leisure hrs per Week } & 26.2 & 19.2 & 16.6 & 18.8 & 19.5\end{array}$
Use x = 0 to represent the year 1973. Using a graphing utility, determine the quadratic regression equation for
the data given. What year corresponds to the time when Americans had the least time to spend on leisure?

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Definitions:

Growth Rate

The rate at which a company's or country's economy grows or the rate at which a given variable, such as population or an investment, increases over a specified period.

Compounded

The process where the value of an investment increases because the earnings on an investment, both capital and interest, earn interest as time passes.

Monthly

Occurring, produced, or executed once every month.

Annuity

A financial product that pays out a fixed stream of payments to an individual, typically used as part of retirement planning.