The polynomial equation y = -0.0545x2 + 5.047x + 11.78gives a good approximation of the

Chapter 5, Problem 97

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The polynomial equation y = -0.0545x2 + 5.047x + 11.78gives a good approximation of the age of a dog in human years y, where x represents age in dog years. Each time we evaluate this polynomial for a value of x, we get one and only one output value y. For example, if a dog is 4 in dog years, let to find that . (Verify this.) This means that the dog is about 31 yr old in human years. This illustrates the concept of a function, one of the most important topics in mathematics. Exercises 97100 further illustrate the function concept with polynomials. Work these exercises in order.It used to be thought that each dog year wasabout 7 human years, so that gave thenumber of human years for x dog years.Evaluate y for and interpret the result.