BUSINESS: Lottery Sales In a scratch-off lottery, the player scratches off a coverin...

BUSINESS: Lottery Sales In a scratch-off lottery, the player scratches off a covering on the ticket to reveal instantly if the ticket is a winner. Total sales of scratch-off lottery tickets in the United States in recent years are given in the following table.

a. Number the data columns with x-values 1–5 (so that x stands for years since 2003), use power regression to fi t a power curve to the data, and state the regression formula. [Hint: See Example 7.]

b. Use the regression formula to predict scratch-off lottery sales in the year 2015.

Reference: See Example 7