I don't understand how to do this, can someone please help me?
To determine the number of deer in a game preserve, a conservationist catches 391 deer, tags them and lets them lose. Later 534 deer are caught; 178 of them are tagged. How many total deer are in the preserve?
The 534 that were caught represent 178/391 of the total deer population. Therefore the total population is about
534*(391/178) = 1173
However there will be a statistical sampling error of about 5% in that number.
To find the total number of deer in the preserve, we can use a method called "mark and recapture". This method involves tagging a sample group of animals, releasing them back into the population, and then capturing another group of animals and counting how many are tagged.
In this scenario, the conservationist caught 391 deer and tagged them. Later, another group of 534 deer was captured, and 178 of them were tagged.
To find the total population of deer, we can use the following formula:
Total population = (Number of tagged deer in the first catch * Total number of deer in the second catch) / Number of tagged deer in the second catch
Plugging in the values from the given information:
Total population = (391 * 534) / 178
Calculating this equation, we get:
Total population = 233,754 / 178
Simplifying further:
Total population ≈ 1,313.65
Since the total population of deer cannot be a fraction, we round the answer to the nearest whole number:
Total population ≈ 1,314
Therefore, there are approximately 1,314 deer in the game preserve.