(Modeling) Internet Users The bar graph on the next page indicates the number of Internet...

(Modeling) Internet Users The bar graph on the next page indicates the number of Internet users in North America (in millions). The polynomial

.146x4 − 2.54x3 + 11.0x2 + 16.6x + 51.5

models the number of users in year x, where x = 0 corresponds to 1997, x = 1 corresponds to 1998, and so on. For given year in Exercise,

(a) use the bar graph to determine the number of users, and then

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(b) use the polynomial to determine the number of users.

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(c) How closely does the polynomial approximate the number of users compared with the data ?

Number of Internet Users in North America

Source: NUA Internet Surveys.

1999