Group Activity 7 More Percents

All group activities must include a signed statement from each group member that they participated fully in the assignment.

1.  Registered Voters:

Open the file RegisteredVoters2004.xls which contains Census Bureau estimates of the percentage of the voting age population who is registered to vote for each state and the percentage of those registered voters who actually voted in the November 2004 election.

Which two states had the highest percentage of registered voters? Which two states had the highest percentage of  registered voters that actually voted? Which state had the least? Fill column D with the percentage of the voting population that actually voted. Sort this table to find the states with the smallest voter turnout.  Paste the ten rows of your table that contain the states with the smallest voter turnout. Using the Thematic Mapping Tool, make a shaded map of the voter turnout (column D) and paste it into your Word document. In a short well-written paragraph describe the geographic patterns of the map. Make sure you describe where voter turnout is high, describe where it is low, and cite notable outliers. The United States prides itself as being a model democracy, a country where government "by the people and for the people" really works. Does the data here confirm this view or contradict it?  In a short paragraph that makes reference to the data, give your opinion and your reasons.

2. Poverty: Good News or Bad News?  According to Census Bureau figures, in 1990 13.1% of the U.S. population lived in poverty, while only 12.4% of the population lived in poverty in 2000. Assume populations of 249 million and 281 million in 1990 and 2000, respectively.

    a.  Did the actual number of people living in poverty increase or decrease between 1990 and 2000?  Show your work.

    b.  Is the news about poverty good or bad?  Justify your answer.

3. Video Store:

At the local Video Station, you pay a total of $15.50 for a DVD, after tax had been added. Assuming a local sales tax of 7.5%, what is the retail (before-tax) price of the DVD?

4. Krispy Kreme Corporation's stock dropped by 61.1% from January 2005 to January 2006, only to rebound by 70% from January 2006 to September 2006.    What is is percent change in the stock over from January 2005 to September 2006?

5.  (skip) A population is growing at 2.5% annually.   By how many percent does it grow over 30 years?

6.  Insecticide use in the US (as measured in millions of pounds of active ingredients used per year) stood at 77.4 million pounds of active ingredients in 2000, an increase of 34.8% from 1990.  How many millions of pounds of insecticides were used in 1990?

7.  (skip) You have a voucher for $20 to be used at a restaurant.  You will need to pay a 2% tax plus a 15% gratuity.  What is the most expensive entree you can buy if you want to use the entire voucher (and not go over)?