Math 319
Homework 03

The point of this homework is to help you become familiar with the "technical report" format
that you will use on your projects.  The mathematics is deliberately fairly simple.

Consider the data in our various_data.xls sheet on the US Population.
http://mapleta.emich.edu/aross15/coursepack3419/various_data.xls
Specifically, use the "plus/minus" column, which shows the % change from one census to the next.

Come up with a mathematical model or two that relates the year and the % change.
Then, use your model(s) to

* "predict" what the growth rate will be after the 2010 census, then compare to the actual growth rate from the 2000 census.  The 2010 census showed a population of 308,745,538.

* predict what the growth rate will be at the next census in 2020, and estimate how uncertain you are about the prediction.

* predict when the growth rate will hit 0%

* report on the strength of the relationship,

* do anything else that should be standard procedure, and

* do anything else creative if you like.

Rather than submitting a spreadsheet, write up your investigation and results in the form of a small technical report, with sections like:
	Title
	Introduction
	Model
	Results
and graphs/tables as appropriate.  You may not include a spreadsheet file in your submission; instead, you should copy/paste from your spreadsheet into your report.
You do not have to do any Internet research for the introduction.

You can use
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/project-guides/sample_paper_outline.doc
as a template to get started (you may delete the Abstracts and Bibliography, etc.)

Use academic language rather than informal language; see
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/project-guides/ross-project-writing-guide.doc
for more information.

For examples of (longer) technical reports, see 
http://people.emich.edu/aross15/project-guides/guides.html