Sea ice extent is a measurement of the area of ocean with at least 15% sea ice. The graph below shows data for the extent of Artic sea ice between 2000 and 2012 as reported by the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The line of best fit is also shown. The equations of the line is `A(t)=-0.187t+380.5`, where A(t) represents the area of measurement sea ice in the Artic Ocean in the year t.

Q. Assuming the trend of the data continues in what year will the measurable sea ice in the Arctic Ocean cease to exist?

Options

A. `2026`
B. `2034`
C. `2066`
D. `2380`

Answer

B

Explanation

Difficult: Medium
Category: Problem Solving and Data Analysis/ Scatterplots
Strategic Advice: You'll need to translate from English into Math to answer this question. The words "cease to exist" tell you that you're looking for the year (t) in which the area of Arctic sea ice will be 0.
Getting to the Answer, Substitute 0 for A(t) and use inverse operations to solve for t: `A(t)=-0.187+380.5`
`0=-0.187t+380.5`
`0.187t=380.5`
`t=(380.5)/(0.187)=2034.76`
Relative to time, this means about three fourths of the way through the year 2034, so (B) is correct.