Energy prices have been a major source of economic and political debate in the United States and around the world. Consumers have recently seen gasoline prices both rise and fall rapidly, and the impact of fuel prices has been blamed for economic problems in the United States at different points in time. Although no longer doing so, for years the California Energy Commission published yearly gasoline prices. The data (found in the file called Gasoline Prices) reflect the average price of regular unleaded gasoline in the state of California for the years between 1970 and 2005. The first price column is the actual average price of gasoline during each of those years. The second column is the average price adjusted for inflation, with 2005 being the base year.
a. Construct an appropriate chart showing the actual average price of gasoline in California over the years between 1970 and 2005.
b. Add to the graph developed in part a the data for the adjusted gasoline prices.
c. Based on the graph from part b, what conclusions might be reached about the price of gasoline over the years between 1970 and 2005?