Project 13.1

This problem is a continuation of Problem 30. A player's batting average really isn't simply the ratio h/a. It is the value of h/a rounded to the nearest thousandth. It is possible that a batting average could be raised or lowered, but the reported batting average might remain the same when rounded. Write a paper on this topic.

Reference:

James M. Sconyers, "Serendipity: Batting Averages to Greatest Integers," The Mathematics Teacher, April 1980, pp. 278-280.

Project 13.2

The population in California was 31,910,000 in January 1995, and 32,231,000 in January 1996. Predict California's population in the year 2000. Check the Internet or an almanac to verify the 2000 population using the information of this problem.

Project 13.3

The population in Sebastopol, California was 7,475 in January 1995, and 7,525 in January 1996. Predict Sebastopol's population in the year 2005.

Project 13.4

Predict the population of your city or state for the year 2005.

Project 13.5

Project 13.6

Write a short paper exploring the concept of the eccentricity of an ellipse. The figure shown here shows some ellipses with the same vertices, but different eccentricities.