Suppose a scientist finds that the average female gorilla needs to have at least 2.1 surviving offspring in order for the population to replace itself from generation to generation. How would she write an inequality that shows the number of offspring (c) that will cause the population to decrease from generation to generation?
a. c<2.1
b. c≥2.1
c. c≠2.1
d. c>2.1
The correct answer is d. c>2.1.
If the average female gorilla has less than 2.1 offspring, then the population will decrease over time, since each generation is not replacing itself. Therefore, the inequality would need to show that c, the number of offspring, is greater than 2.1 in order to avoid a decrease in population.
To write an inequality that shows the number of offspring (c) that will cause the population to decrease from generation to generation, we can use the information that the average female gorilla needs to have at least 2.1 surviving offspring for the population to replace itself.
In this case, if the number of offspring (c) is less than 2.1, it would indicate that the population is decreasing because the average female gorilla is not producing enough offspring to maintain replacement levels.
Therefore, the appropriate inequality would be:
c < 2.1
This means that the scientist would write option a) as the correct inequality.
To write an inequality that shows the number of offspring (c) that will cause the population to decrease from generation to generation, the scientist would use the opposite sign of the desired replacement rate.
Since the scientist wants the population to decrease, the correct inequality would be:
d. c > 2.1