Data Analysis: Military Personnel The numbers (in thousands) of United States military

Chapter 2, Problem 73

(choose chapter or problem)

Data Analysis: Military Personnel The numbers (in thousands) of United States military personnel on active duty for the years 1993 through 2003 are shown in the table, where represents the year, with corresponding to 1993. (Source: U.S. Department of Defense) (a) Use a graphing utility to create a scatter plot of the data. (b) Use the regression feature of the graphing utility to find a cubic model for the data. Graph the model in the same viewing window as the scatter plot. (c) Use the model to create a table of estimated values of Compare the model with the original data. (d) Use synthetic division to evaluate the model for the year 2008. Even though the model is relatively accurate for estimating the given data, would you use this model to predict the number of military personnel in the future? Explain.