Question 460148
Use of the internet in a country is given by the function f(x)=0.485x^2 - 1.694x + 0.315, where the output is in millions of users. In this formula x=6 corresponds to 1996, x=7 corresponds to 1997, and so on until x=20 corresponds to 2010.
Estimate when the number of internet users in the country reached 144 million?
Given:
f(x)=0.485x^2 - 1.694x + 0.315
Set f(x) to 144 and solve for x:
144 = 0.485x^2 - 1.694x + 0.315
0 = 0.485x^2 - 1.694x - 143.685
applying the quadratic formula, we get:
x = {19.05, -15.55}
we can toss out the negative solution leaving:
x = 19 (years from 1990
.
calculating the year:
1990+ 19 = 2009
.
Details of quadratic to follow:
*[invoke quadratic "x", 0.485, -1.694, -143.685 ]