5.4+Comparing+the+Dakotas

Jan 11 2010

Many important practical and mathematical applications involve comparing quantities of one kind or another; it is important to know which method to use and how we should use them. What methods are there for comparing things? **South Dakota and North Dakota rank 45 and 47 in population of all the states in the United States. South Dakota has 721000 people in 75896 square miles of land and North Dakota has 638000 people in 68994 square miles of land**

5.4 South Dakota has the greater population density because its density is 9.499 while North Dakota’s density is 9.247 9563 people need to move from South Dakota to North Dakota. I found this by finding the population density for both states, then found the average of both densities. I subtracted the average from the density of South Dakota because South Dakota is larger, and added the difference to North Dakota’s density to check if it equalled the average of both densities. It did, so I multiplied the difference of South Dakota and the average by South Dakota’s land to find the number of people that needed to move. I rounded up the number and got my answer. The population density of Massachusetts is 809.8 people/mi2 considering how much smaller Massachusetts is compared to North and South Dakota. It’s 800.427 people/mi2 bigger than the average of the Dakotas
 * A. Which state, North or South Dakota, has the greater population density?**
 * B. How many citizens of one state would have to move to the other state to make the population densities in the two states equal? Explain how you arrived at your answer.**
 * Follow Up**
 * Find the population density of your state. How does it compare to the population densities of North and South Dakota?**

Credit to Abdi